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Columbia  SJntbersitu 

STUDIES     IN     ENGLISH 
VOL.  II 


THE   ELIZABETHAN   LYRIC 


• .  •  Voluvto  s  in  /his  s<  rd  s  are  issui  d  by  author- 
ity of  the  Department  of  English  in  Columbia 
University. 


'?&&& 


THE  ELIZABETHAN  LYRIC 


A   STUDY 


BY 


JOHN   ERSKINE,   Ph.D. 

SOMETIME   PROUDFIT   FELLOW   IN    LETTERS 
IN  COLUMBIA   UNIVERSITY 


S^SES^ 


THE   COLUMBIA    UNIVERSITY   PRESS 

THE  MACMILLAN  COMPANY,   Agents 
LONDON:  MACMILLAN   &   CO.,    Ltd. 

1903 

All  rights  reserved 


Copyright,  1903, 
By  THE  MACMILLAN   COMPANY. 


Set  up,  electrotyped,  and  published  September,  1903. 


"NTortoooti  ISrcsB 
CuBhing  &  Co.  —  Berwick  &  Smith  Co. 
Norwood,  Mass.,  U.S.A. 


31n  spemoriam 

THOMAS   RANDOLPH  PRICE 

1839-1903 

Che  in  la  mente  m'  efitta,  ed  or  mi  accora, 
La  cara  e  buona  imagine  paterna 

Di  voi,  quando  nel  mondo  ad  ora  ad  ora 
M'  insegnavate  come  I'  nom  s'  eterna. 


THE  LIBRARY 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 
SANTA   BARBARA 


PREFACE 

This  study  was  submitted  in  partial  fulfilment 
of  the  requirements  for  the  degree  of  Doctor  of 
Philosophy  in  Columbia  University.  It  was  un- 
dertaken at  the  suggestion  of  the  late  Professor 
Thomas  R.  Price,  who  called  the  author's  attention 
to  the  lack  of  systematic  information  concerning 
the  history  and  the  nature  of  lyric  poetry  in  gen- 
eral, and  especially  of  the  Elizabethan  lyric.  The 
student  must  depend  for  his  knowledge  of  the 
greatest  song-period  in  English  literature  upon 
occasional  pamphlets,  dealing  with  only  parts  of 
the  subject,  upon  introductions  to  anthologies,  or 
upon  scattered  passages  in  the  large  histories.  It 
is  the  aim  of  this  study  to  supply  a  chronological 
survey  of  the  English  lyric  in  Elizabeth's  time, 
and  to  relate  its  principal  movements  and  themes 
to  one  another. 

In  dealing  with  the  song-books,  the  author  was 
struck  by  the  indifference  or  the  ignorance  of  lit- 
erary historians  in  regard  to  the  true  nature  of 
madrigal  music,  and  its  influence  upon  the  lyric. 
It  would  seem  that  no  historian  of  this  period  has 
had  the  twofold  interest  in  music  and  in  literature 
which  is  necessary  for  a  complete  understanding 
of  any  songs.  The  author  has  called  the  reader's 
vii 


viii  PREFACE 

attention  to  the  points  of  contact  of  the  two  arts 
throughout  the  Elizabethan  lyric ;  and  in  reference 
to  the  song-books  especially,  it  is  his  hope  to  give 
a  clearer  exposition  of  the  relation  of  the  music 
and  the  words  than,  so  far  as  he  knows,  has  been 
given  before. 

Since  there  is  no  real  end  to  the  development  of 
the  Elizabethan  lyric,  it  was  necessary  to  limit  this 
study  by  an  arbitrary  date,  and  the  death  of  Shak- 
spere,  in  1616,  is  taken  as  a  convenient  stopping- 
place.  Some  familiar  lyrists,  usually  considered 
as  late  Elizabethans,  are  here  omitted ;  in  each  case 
their  absence  seems  to  the  author  justified  by  the 
limits  of  the  book.  Donne,  for  example,  is  omitted 
because  the  spirit  of  his  verse  illustrates  the  seven- 
teenth century  rather  than  the  sixteenth,  and  any 
adequate  consideration  of  him  would  involve  a 
discussion  of  the  "  metaphysicians." 

In  the  preparation  of  this  book  the  author  in- 
curred many  debts  of  gratitude,  which  he  is  glad 
to  acknowledge.  He  would  thank  the  officials  of 
the  Columbia  Library  for  unusual  privileges  in  the 
use  of  books,  and  for  their  readiness  to  aid  him  in 
many  other  thoughtful  ways.  To  Dr.  William  A. 
Nitze,  of  the  Romance  Department,  he  is  indebted 
for  the  use  of  rare  books  and  for  other  assistance. 
He  would  also  thank  Professor  C.  L.  Speranza,  of 
the  same  Department,  for  books  most  cheerfully 
placed  at  his  disposal,  and  for  continued  inspi- 
ration and  help  throughout  his  studies.  And  he 
acknowledges  with  pleasure  the  courteous  informa- 
tion in  regard  to  one  phase  of  the  Elizabethan  lyric 


PREFACE  ix 

which  he  received  from  Professor  J.  B.  Fletcher 
of  Harvard  University. 

To  the  faculty  of  the  English  Department  at 
Columbia  the  author  is  under  heavy  obligations. 
Professor  W.  P.  Trent  and  Professor  Brander  Mat- 
thews rendered  valuable  assistance  by  their  correc- 
tions and  suggestions  in  the  proof-sheets.  Professor 
Trent,  who  directed  the  preparation  of  this  book, 
put  his  time  and  his  scholarship  at  the  author's 
disposal  with  a  generosity  that  only  the  author  is 
in  position  to  appreciate. 

When  this  preface  was  first  written,  the  author 
here  added  a  last  word  of  gratitude  and  love  for 
Professor  Price,  his  master  and  friend,  who  sug- 
gested this  study  and  inspired  many  of  its  lead- 
ing ideas.  The  words  of  admiration  which  were 
natural  then,  would  now  sound  less  fitting ;  death 
makes  such  praise  seem  idle.  But  the  love  and 
gratitude  remain.  This  book  will  be  read  most 
kindly  by  those  who  knew  Professor  Price;  may 
it  represent  him  not  unworthily  to  others. 

Columbia  University, 
June  9,  1903. 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER   I 

Lyrical  Quality  and  Lyric  Form 

page 

The  Greek  use  of  ' '  lyric  " 1 

Modern  uses 2 

Relation  of  music  to  language  in  practical  song    .        .  4 

The  subjective  lyric 7 

Definitions  of  lyric  form        ......  9 

The  lyric  stimulus .11 

Lyric  unity    .........  14 

The  lyrical  idyl 15 

Lyric  development 17 

CHAPTER  II 
The  Lyric  in  England  before  the  Miscellanies 

The  Anglo-Saxon  elegiac  lyric 20 

The  riddles 22 

The  charms 23 

The  religious  lyric 25 

The  patriotic  lyric 26 

The  subjective  lyric 27 

The  religious  lyric  after  the  Conquest  ....  28 

French  or  Latin  lines  combined  with  English       .         .  30 

The  Norman-French  lyric 32 

Songs  to  the  Virgin 34 

Love  songs 35 

Lawrence  Minot 38 

The  Welsh  lyric 39 

xi 


Xll 

CONTENTS 

PAOE 

Chancer 

42 

Charles  d' Orleans 

48 

Lydgate 

48 

Occleve 

49 

The  dramatic 

relig 

ions  lyric 

49 

Henry  son 

51 

Skelton . 

52 

Dunbar 

53 

Hawes  . 

54 

CHAPTER 

III 

Lyric  Themes  and  Lyrical  Quality  in  the 
Miscellanies 

Manuscript  miscellanies 56 

The  patriotic  lyric 57 

The  moral  lyric 57 

Love  plaints 59 

The  pastourelle 61 

Christmas  carols 66 

TotteVs  Miscellany 71 

Wyatt 71 

Surrey 75 

Grimald 79 

Paradise  of  Dainty  Devices 81 

The  Gorgeous  Gallery  . 84 

Narrative  titles 85 

Handful  of  Pleasant  Delights 86 

Practical  songs 87 

The  Phoenix  Nest 89 

Art  lyrics 90 

England's  Helicon 92 

Sidney,  Spenser,  and  others 92 

The  epithalamium 95 

Davison's  Poetical  Rhapsody        .....  95 

The  small  number  of  lyrical  themes  in  the  miscellanies  96 


CONTENTS 


Xlll 


CHAPTER    IV 

Other  Lyrists  of  the  Miscellany  Period 

page 

Googe 98 

Turberville    .........     101 

Gascoigne      .        .        .        .        .        .        .        .        .102 

Churchyard 105 

Spenser,  Shepheards  Calender 100 

The  roundelay       .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .100 

The  Greek  elegy 110 

The  lyric  in  the  Romances 116 

Greene 11G 

His  three  styles .117 

Lodge 119 

His  word-painting  .         .         .        .         .         .         .120 

Nicholas  Breton     ........     121 

Sidney,  Arcadia 122 


CHAPTER   V 


The  Sonnet-Series 


Watson,  Hekatompathia 

Constable,  Spiritual  Sonnets 

Sidney,  Astrophel  and  Stella 

Classification  of  Sonnets 

The  songs      ..... 

Daniel,  Delia        .... 

Resemblance  to  Shakspere's  sonnets 

Constable,  Diana 

Barnes,  Parthenophil  and  Parthenoph 

Watson,  Tears  of  Fancie 

Giles  Fletcher,  Licia     . 

Lodge,  Phillis       .... 

Drayton,  Idea        .... 

Percy,  Ccelia         .... 

Zepheria 


125 
128 
128 
129 
132 
134 
137 
140 
141 
144 
145 
147 
149 
150 
151 


\iv  CONTENTS 

PAOK 

Barnfield,  Ganymede 152 

Spenser,  Amoretti 153 

Barnes,  Divine  Centurie       ......  158 

Emaricdulfe 159 

Sir  John  Davies,  Gulling  Sonnets        ....  159 

Linche,  Diella 160 

Griffin,  Fidessa 162 

Smith,  Chloris      ........  163 

Tofte,  Alba 164 

Rogers,    Sonnets  on  the  Death  of   the    Cozintess  of 

Hertford 165 

Sir  John  Davies,  Astrcea 165 

Alexander,  Aurora       .......  166 

Shakspere,  Sonnets 167 


CHAPTER  VI 

Other  Lyrists  of  the  Sonnet  Period 

Spenser,  Daphnaida 176 

Complaints     ........  177 

Drayton,  Harmony  of  the  Church        ....  181 

Shepheards  Garland 182 

Southwell,  St.  Peter's  Complaint          ....  184 

Astrophel 187 

Spenser,  Epithalamium         ......  189 

Four  Hymns 193 

Prothalamium 195 

Barnfield,  Encomium  of  Lady  Pecunia        .        .        .  196 

Passionate  Pilgrim       .......  197 

Francis  Thynne,  Emblems 200 

Campion,  Art  of  English  Poesy 201 

Drayton,  Poems  Lyrick  and  Pastorall          .         •         •  202 

Chapman       .........  202 

William  Browne,  Britannia's  Pastorals       .         .         .  203 

Shepherd's  Pipe 205 


CONTENTS  XV 

CHAPTER   VII 
The  Song-books 

PAGE 

Madrigal  music 207 

Effect  on  literary  form 211 

Byrd,  Psalms,  Sonnets,  and  Songs       ....  213 

Musica  Transalpina 214 

Watson,  Italian  Madrigals  Englished  ....  210 

Morley,  Canzonets 217 

Other  song-books 218 

Do wland,  First  Book  of  Airs 224 

Popularization  of  madrigal  music          ....  224 

The  airs 225 

Effect  on  literary  form 220 

Thomas  Campion 230 

Triumphs  of  Oriana 240 

CHAPTER  VIII 

The  Lyric  in  the  Drama 

The  Mysteries  ;  the  constructive  lyric  ....  244 

The  ornamental  lyric 240 

The  musical  equipment  of  Elizabethan  actors       .        .  248 

The  academic  drama ;  the  classic  chorus       .         .         .  250 

Balph  Roister  Bolster 251 

Lusty  Juventus 253 

Gorboduc 254 

Gammer  Gurton's  Needle     ......  254 

Other  dramas 256 

Lyly 258 

Peele 262 

Nashe 264 

Kyd 266 

Dekker 267 

Shakspere 267 

Jonson 272 

Beaumont  and  Fletcher 274 


XVI 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER    IX 
Metrical  Forms  in  the  Elizabethan  Lyric 


The  Petrarchan  sonnet 

The  English  sonnet 

The  "pointer's  measure" 

The  rispctto  . 

The  terza  rima 

The  rime  royal 

Elahorate  and  irregular  stanzas 

Anapestic  and  dactylic  lines 

Refrains 

Verses  of  one  accent 

Inverted  rimes 

Classical  meters     . 

The  madrigal 

The  quatrain  and  couplet 

The  sestina    .... 

Greene's  use  of  syncopated  feet 

Sidney's  expanded  sonnet     . 

His  disaine    .... 

His  classic  meters . 

Watson's  expanded  sonnet    . 

Barnes's  expanded  sonnet     . 

The  canzone  .... 


PACK 

275 
276 
277 
277 
278 
278 
279 
280 
281 
281 
282 
283 
283 
284 
285 
288 
290 
291 
291 
292 
294 
295 


CHAPTER   X 
Conclusion 297 


APPENDIX 

Chronology  of  the  Elizabethan  Lyric  .         .         .  305 

Bibliography 313 

Index 331 


THE   ELIZABETHAN   LYRIC 


THE   ELIZABETHAN   LYRIC 

CHAPTER  I 

LYRICAL   QUALITY  AND  LYRIC  FORM 

The  Lyric 

The  word  lyric  is  used  to  define  both  a  literary 
quality  and  a  poetic  form ;  as  when  we  speak,  in 
the  first  sense,  of  a  lyric  drama,  and  in  the  second, 
of  the  Elizabethan  lyric.  In  both  these  uses  of  the 
word  there  is  considerable  vagueness.  When  we 
speak  of  lyrical  quality,  the  vagueness  comes  from 
a  shifting  point  of  view  in  the  critical  history  of  the 
word.  The  Greeks  of  Aristotle's  time  applied  to 
the  class  of  poetry  known  to  us  as  lyric  three  dis- 
tinguishing names  :  "  elegiac,"  to  poems  in  alternate 
hexameters  and  pentameters,  "  melic  "  or  "  lyric," 
to  the  poetry  sung  to  the  lyre  by  the  single  voice, 
and  "  choric,"  to  the  poetry  intended  for  expression 
by  several  voices.  Such  distinctions  —  which  Aris- 
totle himself  found  to  be  inadequate  1  —  are  obvi- 

1  "  Even  when  a  treatise  on  medicine  or  natural  science  is 
brought  out  in  verse,  the  name  of  poet  is  by  custom  given  to  the 
author ;  and  yet  Homer  and  Empedocles  have  nothing  in  com- 
mon but  the  meter."  Aristotle's  Poetics,  I.  8,  translated  by 
S.  H.  Butcher. 

B  1 


2  THE    ELIZABETHAN   LYRIC  [chap. 

ously  based  on  external  differences,  not  on  the 
subject-matter  of  the  poems.  It  is  not  hard  to 
imagine  a  reason.  In  an  early  stage  of  poetic  art, 
when  poetry  is  sung  or  recited,  the  external  form 
and  the  manner  of  delivery  are  easiest  caught,  and 
to  them  the  critical  attention,  leaving  the  subject- 
matter  but  roughly  classed,  directs  itself.  At  first 
the  critic  is  justified  in  this ;  for  if  the  art  become 
highly  developed,  as  in  the  Provencal  lyric,  while 
still  it  is  confined  to  oral  recitation,  the  ingenuity 
of  the  poet,  dependent  for  subject-matter  upon 
familiar  and  conventional  themes,  busies  itself  with 
variations  of  the  external  form.  But  when  poetry 
is  read  on  the  page,  rather  than  recited,  the  external 
form  becomes  less  important,  and  the  critic  turns  to 
the  subject-matter.  So,  to  illustrate  the  transition, 
when  the  Greeks  called  poetry  lyrical,  they  had  in 
mind  the  oral  recitation  to  the  accompaniment  of 
the  lyre ;  when  the  critic  of  to-day  uses  the  word,  he 
is  often  describing  the  subject-matter. 

But  the  old  significance  is  still  strong  in  the 

word.  J  To  most  people  a  lyric  means  a  song  —  that 

57I1  poein  that  needs  for  its  complete  expression,  a 

musical  setting.1     We  also  call  that  poetry  lyrical 

1  "  Song,  in  its  most  general  acceptation,  is  defined  to  be  the 
expression  of  a  sentiment,  sensation  or  image,  the  description 
of  an  action,  or  the  narration  of  an  event,  by  words  differently 
measured,  and  attached  to  certain  sounds,  which  we  call  melody 
or  tune."  Jos.  Ritson,  An  Historical  Essay  on  the  Origin  and 
Progress  of  National  Song,  prefixed  to  Ritson's  English  Songs, 
1783. 


i.]        LYRICAL   QUALITY   AND    LYRIC   FORM  3 

which,  while  complete  in  itself,  suggests  an  original 
accompaniment  of  music.  And  with  neither  of 
these  meanings  in  our  thought,  we  sometimes 
call  that  poetry  lyrical  which  expresses  directly 
the  quality  of  music ; 1  which  by  the  sound  of  the 
phrase,  or  by  the  suggestion  of  the  word,  or  by  the 
mere  connotation  of  ideas,  produces  the  emotional 
effect  of  music.  It  will  be  observed  that  all  these 
shades  of  meaning  are  allied  with  the  Greek  idea, 
the  traditional  association  of  music  with  the  poem 
sung  by  one  person.  We  should  also  note  that  they 
include  the  choric  idea;  we  now  apply  the  word 
lyric,  in  our  common  use,  indifferently  to  the 
expression  of  individual  or  of  choric  personality. 

It  is  unnecessary  to  state  that  the  modern  lyric, 
with  the  exception  of  the  hymn,  does  not  presup- 
pose a  musical  rendering.  Yet  as  late  as  Words- 
worth the  tradition  of  oral  recitation  persisted. 
Speaking  of  his  own  poetry  he  says : 2  "  Some  of 
these  pieces  are  essentially  lyrical ;  and,  therefore, 
cannot  have  their  due  force  without  a  supposed 
musical  accompaniment ;  but,  in  much  the  greatest 
part,  as  a  substitute  for  the  classic  lyre  or  romantic 
harp,  I  require  nothing  more  than  an  animated  or 
impassioned  recitation,  adapted  to  the  subject." 
The  average  critical   idea  of  to-day,  however,  is 


1  Brunetiere,  essay  on  Victor  Hugo,  Revue  des  Deux  Mondes, 
April  15,  1902. 

2  Preface,  1815-1845.     Prose  Works  of  William  Wordsworth, 
W.  Knight,  1896,  ii.  p.  207. 


4  THE   ELIZABETHAN   LYRIC  [chap. 

expressed  by  M.  Brunetiere,  in  his  theory  of  the 
••inward  song,"  chant  interieur1 ;  our  lyrics,  he 
says,  sing  t  hemselves  in  the  heart,  not  on  the  tongue ; 
the  imagination  supplies  the  physical  effect,  just  as 
it  dors  when  we  read  a  drama.  Yet  even  if  oral 
recitation  of  the  lyric  be  largely  a  thing  of  the  past, 
for  most  people  the  lyric  is  still  tested  by  the  ear 
rather  than  by  the  eye.  Intricate  structure  can  in- 
deed best  be  seen  on  the  page,  but  even  there  only 
a  trained  eye  can  see  it.  To  the  general  reader 
Tennyson's  idyl  in  the  Princess  is  charming  by  vir- 
tue of  its  "  moan  of  doves  in  immemorial  elms,"  not 
on  account  of  its  remarkable  structure.2 

Since  the  arts  of  music  and  poetry  start  together 
and  complement  each  other  in  the  early  lyric,  we 
are  led  to  consider  where  and  why  they  separated. 
In  the  first  place,  it  is  remarkable  that  where  we 
have  remains  of  an  early  song  literature,  as  in  Greece, 
Provence,  or  Germany,  it  is  not  the  music  that  has 
come  down  to  us,  but  the  words.  It  is  not  a  sufficient 
explanation  to  say  that  music,  being  dependent  for 
its  growth  largely  upon  mechanical  inventions,  has 
developed  as  an  art  much  more  slowly  than  poetry, 
and  is  not  so  easily  preserved.  As  we  have  noticed, 
in  an  oral  song-literature,  the  themes  treated  are 
largely  conventional,  and  in  the  process  of  trans- 

1  Essay  on  Victor  Hugo,  Revue  des  Deux  Mondes,  April  15, 
1902. 

2  Cf .  Professor  Brander  Matthews,  An  Inquiry  as  to  Rime,  in 
Parts  of  Speech,  1901,  p.  245. 


i.]        LYRICAL   QUALITY   AND   LYRIC   FORM  5 

mission  from  one  generation  of  poets  to  another, 
have  every  chance  of  preservation.  But  in  order 
to  suit  the  constant  resetting  of  stanza-forms,  as 
each  poet  treats  in  his  own  way  the  familiar  themes, 
the  music  must  continually  vary,  and  so  can  hardly 
become  as  conventional  as  the  words.  It  can  iden- 
tify itself  with  each  lyric  idea  only  by  reserving  for 
that  idea  some  particular  rhythm ;  or  at  the  most, 
by  the  use  of  different  modes,  as  in  the  Greek,  it 
can  lend  the  theme  a  characteristic  emotional  color. 
But  words  also  are  capable  of  producing  these  ef- 
fects of  rhythm  and  tonality,  and  as  the  traditional 
themes  went  through  the  process  of  transmission 
and  reworking,  gradually  arriving  at  a  complete 
art-form,  they  caught  more  and  more  of  the  quality 
of  their  musical  accompaniment.  Here  the  final 
separation  begins.  Words  and  music  remain  on 
good  terms  only  so  long  as  each  does  not  invade  the 
special  art  of  the  other.  When  the  words  supply 
the  idea,  and  the  music  furnishes  the  emotion,  and 
both  compromise  on  a  common  theme,  as  in  all 
hymns,  we  have  the  practical  song-lyric.  But  when 
the  music  attempts  to  express  both  emotion  and 
idea,  as  in  the  symphonic  poem,  or  when  words  take 
on  the  cadence  of  music,  as  they  often  do,  then  each 
art,  to  be  enjoyed  in  its  specialty,  must  be  heard 
alone.1     It  is  a  familiar  phenomenon,  that  when 

1  "  I  once  asked  an  eminent  musician,  the  late  Madame 
Goldschmidt,  why  Shelley's  lyrics  were  ill-adapted  to  music. 
She  made  me  read  aloud  to  her  the  So7ig  of  Pan  and   those 


6  THE   ELIZABETHAN   LYRIC  [chap. 

words  are  joined  to  music,  the  verbal  melody  is  lost 
in  the  notes ;  and  in  the  same  way,  though  it  does 
not  concern  us  here,  music  loses  any  particular  in- 
tellectual message  it  may  have,  when  joined  with 
words.  So  when  the  poets  of  an  early  literature, 
handing  down  their  lyric  themes,  begin  to  add 
musical  quality  to  the  bare  words,  they  are  begin- 
ning an  art  which  they  can  appreciate  without  the 
aid  of  music ;  and  from  that  moment  the  words  are 
likely  to  be  heard  alone.  Ignorance  of  this  principle 
has  caused  many  a  failure  when  great  poets  have 
written  words  for  music.  A  good  example  is  Tenny- 
son's "Far  —  far  —  away,"  a  song  that  is  almost 
impossible  for  musical  setting,  because  it  is  already 
so  musical.  The  Elizabethan  song-writers,  under- 
standing the  principle,  were  content,  at  least  in  the 
earlier  period,  to  leave  the  emotional  expression  to 
the  music.  When  Campion  wrote  at  a  later  time, 
the  appreciation  of  song-words  for  their  own  sake 
was  matured,  and  his  songs  have  high  musical 
quality;  it  is  not  surprising  that  they  were  fre- 
quently reprinted  without  the  music.  How  rough 
some  of  the  famous  Elizabethan  songs  were,  in 
cases  where  the  functions  of  words  and  music  were 

lovely  lines  To  the  Night,  '  Swiftly  walk  over  the  western 
wave,  Spirit  of  Night !  '  Then  she  pointed  out  how  the  verbal 
melody  was  intended  to  he  self-sufficing  in  these  lyrics,  how  full 
of  complicated  thoughts  and  changeful  images  the  verse  is,  how 
packed  with  consonants  the  words  are,  how  the  tone  of  the 
emotion  alters,  and  how  no  one  melodic  phrase  could  be  found 
to  fit  the  d?edal  woof  of  the  poetic  emotion."  Essays  Specula- 
tive and  Suggestive,  J.  A.  Symonds,  ii.  pp.  251-252. 


i.]        LYRICAL   QUALITY   AND    LYRIC    FORM  7 

distinguished,    is    seen    in    the    song  of    Thomas 
Weelkes,  one  of  the  greatest  madrigal  writers :  — 

"  Thulc,  the  period  of  cosmographie, 
Doth  vaunt  of  llecla,  whose  sulphurious  fire 
Doth  melt  the  frozen  clime  and  thaw  the  skie, 
Trinacrian  /Etna's  flames  ascend  not  higher,1'  etc. 

The  best  modern  example  of  the  practical  rela- 
tion of  words  and  music  is  the  hymn.  The  hymns 
that  survive  in  use  are  invariably  simple,  bare  ideas 
set  to  easy  music.  When  the  words  happen  to 
come  from  a  great  poet,  and  take  on  complicated 
stanza-form  or  variable  rhythm,  they  are  in  the 
main  relegated  to  collections  of  poems,  and  left 
unsung. 

As  was  said  before,  the  Greeks  had  several  terms 
for  the  general  class  of  poetry  we  call  lyric,  their 
use  of  that  particular  word  being  confined  to  songs 
for  one  voice,  accompanied  by  the  lyre.  Judging 
even  by  that  external  mark,  we  can  see  that  the 
songs  of  one  voice  were  likely  to  be  more  individual, 
more  personal,  than  those  voiced  by  a  multitude,  as 
in  choric  poetry.  The  direct,  personal  expression, 
then,  is  latent  in  all  lyric  poetry,  even  in  the  Greek 
sense  of  the  word ;  in  some  kinds  of  poetry  it  would 
seem  to  have  been  always  a  convention,  as  in  reli- 
gious addresses  to  a  divinity,  or  lovers'  songs  to  their 
mistresses.  As  the  personal  note  grows  stronger, 
the  choral  or  communal  quality  tends  to  disappear. 
This  evolution,  as  has  been  shown  before,1  is  due 

1  Gummere,  Beginnings  of  Poetry,  p.  147. 


8  THE    ELIZABETHAN    LYRIC  [chap. 

to  social  developments  and  changes  in  civilization, 
which  help  the  poet  to  depend  less  upon  the  com- 
munity for  ideas  and  opportunities  to  express  them, 
and  more  upon  himself.  The  invention  of  print- 
ing,1 to  name  no  other  example,  gave  poets  a  certain 
boldness  necessary  to  subjective  expression,  hardly 
to  be  expected  in  an  oral  revelation  of  themselves. 
The  Renascence,  with  all  its  impulses  to  personal, 
subjective  expression,  developed  the  possibilities 
of  the  lyric;  and  the  critic  of  to-day,  forced  to 
look  for  the  distinguishing  trait  of  poetry,  not  in 
external  differences  but  in  the  subjective  matter, 
finds  the  mark  of  lyric  poetry  in  this  quality  of 
direct,  personal  utterance.2  The  musical  connota- 
tions of  the  term  have  a  very  subordinate  position, 
and  often  are  not  felt  at  all. 

Though  the  poet's  personality,  directly  expressed, 
is  the  mark  of  the  modern  subjective  lyric,  the 
poet's  presence  in  the  poem  is  not  always  equally  felt. 
The  subjective  note  may  take  a  more  or  less  dramatic 
form.  The  simplest  and  most  direct  expression 
may  be  seen  in  what  has  been  called  the  first  Eng- 
lish lyric,  "  Sumer  is  icumen  in," 3  where  the  poet, 
uttering  his  joy  spontaneously,  seems  unconscious 

1  Gummere,  Old  English  Ballads,  p.  xi. 

2  "  Wir  bezeiclmen  die  lyrische  Poesie  als  die  subjective ; 
subjectiv  aber  nennen  wir  einmal  das  personliche  Seelenleben 
im  Uiiterschied  der  Aussenwelt  und  den  Dingen."  Die  Poesie, 
Moriz  Carriere,  1884,  p.  367.  "  Unser  Sprachgebraueh  ist  .  .  . 
wenn  der  Dichter  von  sich  redet,  es  ein  Lied  zu  nennen,  wenn 
er  von  Andern  redet,  eine  Ballade."    Sherer,  Poetik,  p.  249. 

3  Ritson,  Ancient  Songs  and  Ballads,  i.  p.  10. 


i.]        LYRICAL   QUALITY   AND   LYRIC   FORM  9 

of  any  audience.  A  more  complicated  form  is  Love- 
lace's "Tell  me  not,  Sweet,  I  am  unkind,"1  in  which, 
though  the  poet  speaks  directly,  a  situation  is  indi- 
cated that  involves  another  character  besides  his 
own.  The  most  dramatic  form  of  lyric,  in  which 
the  poet  makes  use  of  other  characters  to  express 
his  emotions,  is  well  shown  in  Scott's  song,  "  Proud 
Maisie  is  in  the  Wood." 2 

These,  then,  are  the  different  meanings  critics 
have  attached  to  lyrical  quality.  The  earliest  use" 
had  in  mind  the  musical  accompaniment  that  the 
word  suggests;  the  modern  habit  finds  the  char- 
acteristic note  in  subjective  expression.  ,The  change 
came  over  English  poetry  finally  at  the  Renascence, 
and  is  comprehensively  illustrated  by  the  lyric  lit- 
erature from  Wyatt  to  Herbert.  In  English  criti- 
cism, however,  the  new  point  of  view  was  slow  to 
find  a  reflection ;  the  Elizabethan  critics,  following 
the  classical  tradition,  used  "  lyric  "  only  with  the 
idea  of  musical  quality  or  accompaniment.3  _ 

So  much  for  lyrical  quality.  Lyric  form,4  how- 
ever, is  much  more  difficult  to  define.  The  vague- 
ness of  the  term  comes,  not  as  in  the  case  of  lyrical 
quality,  from  a  shifting  point  of  view  in  criticism, 

i  Palgrave's  Golden  Treasury,  p.  88.  2  Ibid.,  p.  258. 

3  See  Puttenbam,  Art  of  English  Poesie,  Arber  Reprint,  p.  40 ; 
Sidney,  Apologie  for  Poetrie,  Arber  Reprint,  p.  46 ;  Campion, 
Art  of  English  Poesie,  Haslewood,  1815,  p.  181. 

4  The  term  "  lyric  form  "  in  tbis  study  is  used  to  describe  not 
the  stanza  but  the  internal  structure  ;  much  as  one  might  speak 
of  "  dramatic  form,"  meaning  the  motivation  and  development 
of  the  action.    Exceptions  to  this  use  will  be  made  explicit. 


10  THE   ELIZABETHAN   LYRIC  [chap. 

but  rather  from  an  almost  total  neglect  on  the  part 
of  all  critics.  Aristotle  told  exactly  what  the  drama 
is,  but  said  nothing  of  the  lyric.  In  English  litera- 
ture the  only  contributions  to  this  subject,  small  as 
they  are,  come  from  compilers  of  song-anthologies, 
who  have  found  themselves  at  a  loss  to  distinguish 
between  the  true  lyric  and  the  abundance  of  poetry 
that  has  lyrical  quality.  Having  formulated  a  work- 
ing rule  of  their  own,  they  sometimes  give  it  to 
their  readers,  for  what  it  may  be  worth.  Ritson 
was  probably  the  first  song-anthologist  to  do  this, 
and  his  chief  success  was  to  distinguish  between 
the  narrative  ballad  and  the  song  —  a  distinction 
he  arrived  at  by  defining  the  ballad  rather  than  the 
lyric.1  An  important  attempt  to  define  lyric  form  is 
Palgrave's,  who  holds  "  lyrical "  to  imply  "  that 
each  poem  shall  turn  on  some  single  thought,  feel- 
ing, or  situation." 2  This  definition  indicates  briefly 
what  might  be  called  the  "  lyric  unit."  The  funda- 
mental trait  of  the  lyric  form,  as  distinguished 
from  narrative,  is  unity  of  emotion,  corresponding 
to  unity  of  action  in  the  drama.  As  in  the  drama 
the  poet  is  concerned  with  the  expression  of  human 
will,  stimulated  to  action  by  some  situation  of  love 
or  ambition   or  jealousy,  etc.,  so  in  the  lyric  he 

1  Prefatory  essay  to  English  Songs,  2d  ed.,  1813,  p.  i. 
note:  "With  us,  songs  of  sentiment,  expression,  or  even  de- 
scription, are  properly  termed  songs,  in  contradistinction  to 
mere  narrative  compositions,  which  we  now  denominate 
ballads." 

2  Golden  Treasury,  Preface. 


I.]        LYRICAL   QUALITY   AND   LYRIC   FORM        11 

busies  himself  with  the  expression  of  human  emo- 
tion, having  its  origin  and  development  in  some 
stimulus  of  nature,  of  accident,  or  of  thought.  But 
here  the  parallel  stops.  As  soon  as  a  drama  is  put 
in  motion,  the  stimulus  or  motive  is  absorbed  into 
the  action ;  when  the  first  step  is  taken,  it  becomes 
the  reason  for  the  second  step,  and  the  second  step 
becomes  the  reason  for  the  third,  and  so  on  until 
the  inevitable  catastrophe.  In  the  lyric,  however, 
the  stimulus  remains  distinct  in  the  foreground, 
giving  rise  to  the  emotion  and  controlling  its  devel- 
opment. Again,  in  narrative  or  dramatic  forms, 
some  preparation  is  necessary  before  the  stimulus 
is  introduced  that  begins  the  action.  The  lyric,  on 
the  other  hand,  when  properly  constructed,  begins 
with  the  stimulus,  and  when  the  resulting  emotion 
subsides,  it  must  end.  Examples  will  be  noticed, 
however,  where  the  song  ends  before  the  emotion 
subsides.  Where  the  poet  is  a  master  of  his  art, 
such  an  ending  is  accounted  for  by  the  particular 
effect  he  is  seeking. 

The  number  of  ways  in  which  the  stimulus  may 
be  presented  is  infinite,  but  the  necessity  is  always 
the  same  —  to  get  before  the  hearer  the  cause  of  I 
the  poet's  emotion.     This  is  accomplished  often  by  ' 
a  description  or  an  invocation,  as :  — 

"  Thou  still  unravished  bride  of  quietness." 
or:  — 

"  O  wild  West  Wind,  thou  breath  of  Autumn's  being  1 " 


12  THE   ELIZABETHAN   LYRIC  [chap. 

Sometimes  the  poet  merely  suggests  the  situation 
in  which  his  emotion  found  its  stimulus,  as:  — 

"Tell  me  not,  Sweet,  I  am  unkind," 
or:  — 

"  Sigh  no  more,  ladies,  sigh  no  more." 

Or  in  still  another  way,  the  poet  may  simply  state 
the  idea  that  has  stirred  him  to  song,  as  :  — 

"  Let  me  not  to  the  marriage  of  true  minds 
Admit  impediments." 

or,  again :  — 

"  Who  will  believe  my  verse  in  time  to  come, 
If  it  were  filled  with  your  most  high  deserts  ?  " 

An  examination  of  these  examples  will  show 
the  rather  obvious  fact  that  the  stimulus  to  lyri- 
cal emotion  may  be  found  in  almost  any  part  of 
human  experience ;  these  particular  illustrations 
being  taken  from  the  realm  of  nature  and  art  — 
the  observed  world,— from  the  realm  of  human 
incident,  and  from  the  realm  of  thought.  In  all 
of  them  a  constant  law  seems  to  be  in  evidence, 
r~that  lyric  emotion,  in  order  to  express  itself  intel- 
/  ligibly,  must  first  reproduce  the  cause  of  its  ex- 
l^istence.  If  the  poet  will  go  into  ecstasies  over  a 
Grecian  urn,  to  justify  himself  he  must  first  show 
us  the  urn.  In  this  point  poetry  differs  widely 
from  music,  which,  free  from  the  intellectual  inten- 
tion implied  in  any  use  of  words,  appeals  directly 
to  the  senses,  and  is  its  own  emotional  stimulus. 
A   musician    may   be    profoundly    stirred   by   the 


i.]        LYRICAL   QUALITY   AND    LYRIC   FORM       13 

sight  of  a  Grecian  urn ;  if  so,  his  art  is  adequate 
to  express  his  emotions,  though  he  is  unable  to 
suggest  the  appearance  of  the  urn  that  inspired 
him.  But  Keats,  moved  by  the  same  subject, 
must  first  picture  to  us  the  stimulus,  and  then  we 
understand  his  emotion.  This  distinction  between 
the  laws  of  lyric  poetry  and  of  music  is  important, 
because  it  explains  the  success  of  many  songs 
that,  until  they  are  sung,  are  intellectually  and 
emotionally  ineffective.  Read  as  poetry,  they 
fail  to  offer  us  any  stimulus ;  when  set  to  music,  — 
an  art  that  supplies  its  own  sensuous  excitement, 
—  they  find  a  proper  use  as  mere  syllables,  making 
possible  a  variety  in  the  singer's  intonation. 

A  distinction  should  be  made  between  the  emo- 
tional stimulus  of  a  lyric  and  its  subject.  The 
emotional  stimulus  refers  always  to  the  non-intel- 
lectual part  of  the  poem,  though  the  intellectual  j 
element  results  from  it.  Excellent  illustrations 
are  two  lyrics  of  Sir  Philip  Sidney,  the  sonnet 
beginning :  — 

"  High-way,  since  you  my  chief  Parnassus  be," 

and  the  song :  — 

"  The  nightingale,  as  soon  as  April  bringeth." 

In  each  case  the  emotional  stimulus  and  the  sub- 
ject are  quite  distinct.  The  stimulus  in  the  first 
example  is  the  roadway  along  which  the  poet 
rides;   in   the   second  case   it   is  the   nightingale. 


14  THE   ELIZABETHAN   LYRIC  [chai>. 

But  the  subject  —  the  intellectual  message  —  of 
both  poems,  is  the  poet's  love. 
I  The  law  of  unity  is  as  natural  and  inexorable 
in  lyric  emotion  as  it  is  in  dramatic  action.  The 
lyric  stimulus  sets  the  tone  or  quality  of  the 
emotion,  and  controls  it  till  the  end.  For  example, 
to  refer  again  to  Keats,  the  Ode  on  the  Grecian 
Urn  takes  its  classic  reserve,  its  plastic  quality, 
from  the  stimulus  it  so  continually  contemplates; 
or,  to  state  it  differently,  by  keeping  the  reader's 
eye  fixed  upon  the  urn,  the  poet  makes  him  feel 
the  emotional  value  of  the  poem  in  terms  of  plastic 
quality.  On  the  same  principle,  though  with  a 
different  manner,  Shelley's  Ode  to  the  West  Wind 
reproduces  the  emotional  effect  of  the  wind,  which 
it  keeps  present  before  our  thought.  If  the  origi- 
nal stimulus  does  not  so  control  and  sustain  the 
emotion,  the  lyric  either  breaks  down  entirely,  or 
else  separates  into  fragments,  each  a  complete  lyric 
unit  in  itself.  This  last  condition  is  well  seen  in 
Jonson's  lines  to  Celia :  — 

"  Drink  to  me  only  with  thine  eyes." 

The  two  stanzas  have  the  same  subject,  —  a  courtly 
profession  of  love,  — but  each  has  its  own  emotional 
stimulus,  and  is  a  song  by  itself.  The  poet's 
message  would  be  rendered  by  either  stanza  alone, 
or  with  their  order  reversed. 

The   obvious   inference   from   this   law  of   emo- 
tional continuity  is  that,  where  the  lyric  stimulus 


i.]        LYRICAL   QUALITY   AND   LYRIC   FORM       15 

is  an  idea,  or  an  intellectual  proposition,  the  lyric 
is  likely  to  take  on  a  strongly  meditative  or  philo- 
sophical character.  With  a  large  intellectual  ele- 
ment in  such  poems,  it  is  not  surprising  that 
though  they  often  have  verbal  sweetness,  they 
rarely  show  spontaneous  song-quality.  They  are 
classed  as  lyrics,  not  in  the  musical  sense  of  the 
Greeks,  but  on  account  of  their  direct  expression, 
the  "subjectivity"  taken  as  a  standard  by  modern  j 
critics.  Some  of  Shakspere's  sonnets,  and  many 
songs  written  in  England  under  Petrarchan  influ- 
ence, illustrate  this  tendency  of  the  intellect  to  1 
lower  the  temperature  of  the  lyrical  emotion. 

The  test,  then,  of  lyrical  quality  is  the  twofold  1 
historic  standard  of   musical  origin  and  of   direcj  1 
subjective  expression.     The  test   of  lyric  form  K~ 
first,  the  unity  of  the  emotion  resulting  from  the 
lyric  stimulus,  and  secondly,  the  formative  effect 
of  the   stimulus    upon    the    development   of    the 
emotion. 

Judged  by  such  standards,  many  long  poems, 
which  in  quality  are  undoubtedly  lyrical,  in  form 
should  be  considered  a  series  of  lyric  units  rather 
than  one  song.  This  is  true  of  all  poems  built  up, 
in  the  idyllic  manner,  by  a  series  of  pictures. 
Where  a  poem  deals  with  but  one  picture,  however 
highly  wrought,  of  course  all  the  requirements  of 
the  single  lyric  may  be  fulfilled.  But  in  the  longer 
idyls,  whenever  the  poet  directs  the  reader's  at- 
tention to  a  new  picture,  he  introduces  a  new  lyric 


16  THE   ELIZABETHAN   LYRIC  [chap. 

stimulus  and  begins  what  we  may  for  critical  pur- 
poses regard  as  a  new  song.  A  good  example 
is  the  Epithalainimii  of  Spenser,  a  poem  as  lyrical, 
so  far  as  quality  goes,  as  any  in  our  literature. 
But  in  form  it  is  an  idyl.  All  the  incidents  and 
phases  of  the  poet's  wedding-day  are  treated, 
picture  by  picture,  each  in  a  separate  stanza,  and 
many  different  motives  of  love  poetry  are  intro- 
duced. The  poet  describes  the  dawn,  with  a  prayer 
to  his  mistress  to  awake  (the  ancient  chanson  d'V 
aubade)  ;  he  describes  the  singing  of  the  birds  that 
greet  her  when  she  rises ;  the  minstrels  and  bridal 
choir  that  escort  her  when  she  comes  forth;  her 
personal  appearance ;  the  church  as  she  enters ; 
the  scene  at  the  altar,  etc.  Even  within  the  single 
picture,  the  lyric  mood  is  sometimes  interrupted, 
as  in  the  eleventh  stanza,  where  the  poet  turns 
aside  to  preach  decorum :  — 

"  With  trembling  steps,  and  humble  reverence, 
She  commeth  in,  before  th'  Almighties  view ; 
Of  her  ye  virgins  learne  obedience, 
When  so  ye  come  into  those  holy  places, 
To  humble  your  proud  faces  : 
Bring  her  up  to  th'  high  altar,"  etc. 

The  poet  has  preserved  a  certain  feeling  of  unity 
by  the  natural  order  of  his  scenes,  reproducing  the 
marriage  day  in  sequence,  from  dawn  to  midnight. 
There  is  also  a  unity  of  mood  throughout,  derived 
from  the  poet's  constant  ecstasy  of  love  and  joy. 
But  on  the  formal  side,  the  poem  is  a  series  of 


i.]        LYRICAL   QUALITY   AND   LYRIC   FORM        17 

lyric  units,  not  one  song.  However  lyrical  in 
quality  such  poems  may  be,  the  typical  song  is 
short. 

Almost  more  important,  however,  than  the  unity 
of  lyrical  emotion,  isjlie  proper  developmen£jaLife. 
A  lyric  is  too  short  or  too  long,  according  as  the 
emotion  is  thwarted  in  its  development,  or  fails  to 
sustain  the  thought.  The  test  of  a  lyrist's  art  is 
the  judgment  with  which  he  proportions  the  length 
to  the  force  of  the  emotion.1  , 

Speaking  broadly,  all  successful  lyrics  have  three 
rparts.  In  the  first  the  emotional  stimulus  is  given 
—  the  object,  the  situation,  or  the  thought  from 
which  the  song  arises.  In  the  second  part  the 
emotion  is  developed  to  its  utmost  capacity,  until 
as  it  begins  to  flag  the  intellectual  element  reas- 
serts itself.  In  the  third  part,  the  emotion  is 
finally  resolved  into  a  thought,  a  mental  resolution, 
or  an  attitude.  The  process  of  such  a  lyric  illus- 
trates the  natural  transition  from  a  stimulated 
emotional  state  to  a  restoration  of  the  normal  con- 
dition of  mind.  This  law  of  lyric  expression  is 
most  often  violated,  among  skilful  writers,  in  the 
case  of  idyllic  songs,  like  Tennyson's  "  Tears,  idle 
tears,"  in  which  the  interest  is  in  the  little  pictures. 
Here  the  emotion  is  but  gently  stimulated,  and  not 
developed  at  all.      Such  lyrics  have  little  or  no 

1  Cf.  Poe's  theory,  in  the  essay  on  the  Poetic  Principle,  that 
any  poem  to  have  unity  must  end  with  the  subsidence  of  the 
reader's  attention.  Works,  Stedman  and  Woodberry,  vi.  p.  3  sq. 
c 


18  THE   ELIZABETHAN   LYRIC  [chap. 

structural  organism,  as  may  be  seen  by  transposing 
or  omitting  several  of  the  stanzas. 

A  good  illustration  of  the  properly  constructed 
lyric  is  Matthew  Arnold's  fifth  poem  to  Marguerite, 
in  the  Switzerland  series.  The  first  stanza  gives 
the  lyric  stimulus  in  the  conception  of  human  life 
as  an  individual  separation :  — 

"  Yes  !  in  the  sea  of  life  enisled, 
With  echoing  straits  between  us  thrown, 
Dotting  the  shoreless  watery  wild, 
We  mortal  millions  live  alone. 
The  islands  feel  the  enclasping  flow, 
And  then  their  endless  bounds  they  know." 

In  the  second  and  third  stanzas  the  emotion  is 
developed  by  a  study  of  "enisled"  souls  under 
different  conditions.  The  contrast  in  the  second 
stanza  is  sufficient  to  arouse  intellectual  specula- 
tion, which  finds  expression  in  the  third  stanza :  — 

"  But  when  the  moon  their  hollows  lights, 
And  they  are  swept  by  balms  of  spring, 
And  in  their  glens  on  starry  nights, 
The  nightingales  divinely  sing  ; 
And  lovely  notes,  from  shore  to  shore, 
Across  the  sounds  and  channels  pour  — 

"  Oh  !  then  a  longing  like  despair 
Is  to  their  farthest  caverns  sent ; 
For  surely  once,  they  feel,  we  were 
Parts  of  a  single  continent ! 
Now  round  us  spreads  the  watery  plain  — 
Oh  might  our  marges  meet  again  !  " 


I.]        LYRICAL   QUALITY   AND   LYRIC   FORM       19 

In  the  last  stanza  this  emotional  conflict  is  resolved 
into  an  attitude  of  awe  toward  a  superior  and 
controlling  order  —  an  attitude  that  is  intellectual 
rather  than  emotional :  — 

"  Who  ordered  that  their  longing's  fire 
Should  be  as  soon  as  kindled,  cooled  ? 
Who  renders  vain  their  deep  desire  ?  — 
A  God,  a  God  their  severance  ruled  ! 
And  bade  betwixt  their  shores  to  be 
The  unpluuibed,  salt,  estranging  sea." 


CHAPTER  II 

THE  LYKIC  IN  ENGLAND  BEFORE  THE 
MISCELLANIES 


The  prevailing  mood  of  Anglo-Saxon  poetry  is 
elegiac  —  that  is,  it  is  much  given  to  complaint, 
or  at  least  contemplation,  of  human  unhappiness. 
This  mood,  however,  is  racial  rather  than  indi- 
vidual ;  it  gives  tone  to  the  whole  literature,  but 
is  rarely  concentrated  in  a  personal  note.  As  a 
result,  this  period  yields  few  examples  of  the  true 
elegy, — the  funeral  song, — although  from  the  social 
position  of  the  scop,  the  mourning  theme  would 
seem  especially  natural.  Wherever  in  society  the 
bard  is  dependent,  as  in  Provence  or  Old  England, 
he  is  likely  to  feel  keenly  the  death  of  his  patron ; 
the  loss  is  practical  enough  to  occasion  real  human 
misery.  In  Provencal  literature  this  situation  gives 
rise  to  the  conventional  funeral-song,  the  plarih,  ex- 
pressing direct  personal  grief.  In  Anglo-Saxon, 
however,  the  grief  is  absorbed  into  the  national 
mood,  and  intensifies  it ;  the  poet  takes  a  slightly 
darker,  but  not  more  individual,  view  of  life. 
20 


(hap.  ii.]  THE  EARLY  LYRIC  IN  ENGLAND    21 

A  familiar  example  in  point  is  the  Wanderer, 
a  lyric  of  subjective  expression,  rather  than  of  song- 
quality.  The  singer  has  become  an  outcast  through 
the  death  of  his  patron.  A  Romance  poet  would 
have  traced  his  misfortune  to  that  event,  but  the 
Anglo-Saxon  temperament  generalizes  the  subject 
into  a  complaint  against  the  cruelty  of  fate,  of 
which  the  patron's  death  is  only  one  incident.  The 
attention  is  fixed  not  on  the  event,  but  on  the  prin- 
ciples it  illustrates  —  the  frailty  of  happiness,  and 
the  poignancy  of  its  memory. 

This  generalization  of  what  would  seem  to  be  a 
very  personal  grief,  suggests  that  the  character  of 
the  Wanderer,  as  probably  that  of  the  Seafarer1 
also,  is  not  a  direct  revelation,  but,  like  the  sub- 
jects of  the  Elizabethan  sonnet-series,  is  a  dramatic 
conception.  Both  lyrics  are  built  upon  situations 
and  enlightened  by  images  that  must  have  been 
associated  with  typical  modes  of  life.  The  latter 
poem  in  particular  is  strongly  dramatic,  yet  is  a 
good  example  of  lyric  form.  It  is  mentioned  here, 
although  only  partly  elegiac,  because  of  its  usual 
association  with  the  Wanderer.  If  we  follow  those 
critics  who  regard  only  the  first  sixty-six  lines  as 
properly  belonging  to  the  poem,  we  find  the  verses 
divided  almost  equally  into  two  perfect  lyric  units, 
each  with  its  own  stimulus  and  emotional  develop- 
ment. In  the  first  the  Seafarer  sings  of  his  long 
hardships  at  sea :  — 
1  Grein-Wiilker,  Bibliothek  der  angelsach.  Poesie,  i.  p.  245. 


22  THE   ELIZABETHAN   LYRIC  [chap. 

•■  I  can  sing  of  myself  a  true  song,  of  my  voyages  telling, 
I  low  oft  through  laborous  days,  through  the  wearisome 

hours, 
I  have  suffered."  1 

The  description  of  privation  and  monotony  on 
the  ship  is  realistic,  with  the  characteristic  point 
of  view  of  the  sailor,  that  nothing  so  hard  befalls 
the  landsman.  Then  the  poet  turns  to  the  second 
phase  of  his  song:  though  the  life  be  hard,  the 
inborn  spirit  of  adventure  ever  drives  him  back  to 
the  waves :  — 

"  Yet  the  thoughts  of  my  heart  now  are  throbbing 
To  test  the  high  streams,  the  salt  waves  in  tumultuous 
play."  2 

One  exception  to  the  general  Anglo-Saxon  elegy- 
is  the  poem  in  the  Chronicle  on  the  death  of  Ead- 
ward,  murdered  in  979.3  The  date  is  so  late  that 
the  verses  can  hardly  affect  an  opinion  of  the  Old 
English  elegy  as  a  whole.  Their  interest  is  that 
they  seem  to  express  personal  grief  and  indigna- 
tion, and  are  applicable  only  to  the  one  situation. 
In  the  other  opportunities  for  elegiac  expression 
afforded  by  the  Chronicle*  the  writer  has  contented 
himself  with  a  respectful  enumeration  of  the  virtues 
of  the  departed,  without  sufficient  enthusiasm  to 
raise  the  verses  to  the  emotional  level  of  poetry. 

The   dramatic   tone   of    the   Anglo-Saxon   lyric, 

i  Translations  from  O.E.  Poetry,  Cook  and  Tinker,  p.  44. 
*Ibid.,  p.  46. 

3  The  Chronicle,  Earl  and  Plummer;  979,  Laud  Ms. 

4  Cf .  The  Chronicle,  Earl  and  Plummer ;  959,  Laud  Ms. 


ii.]     THE  EARLY  LYRIC  IN  ENGLAND     23 

noticed  in  the  Wanderer  and  the  Seafarer,  and  seen 
also  in  the  Wife's  Complaint,1  finds  unique  expres- 
sion in  the  riddles.  In  these  the  poet  never  speaks 
directly,  but  uses  the  subject  of  the  riddle  as  a 
mouthpiece,  trying  to  give  the  subject's  point  of 
view.  All  riddles,  from  the  nature  of  their  use, 
must  be  largely  descriptive,  and  would  seem  to  im- 
ply an  artificial,  unemotional  structure.  The  Anglo- 
Saxon  bard,  however,  in  striving  for  imaginative 
description  from  the  inside  —  subjective  descrip- 
tion —  tends  toward  a  lyric  mood.  With  a  few 
exceptions,  as  in  the  Swan,2  he  fails  of  lyric  form ; 
the  riddle  usually  contains  such  a  number  of  incon- 
gruous details  —  the  Horn,  for  example  —  as  to 
forbid  any  lyric  unity  or  development.  The  Swan, 
however,  with  its  single  motive  of  the  noise  of  its 
wings,  is  a  perfect  unit,  and  has,  besides,  the  emo- 
tional lift  of  lyric  poetry.  The  poem  called  the 
Love-Letter  or  the  Husband's  Message?  probably 
belongs  also  in  this  class,  though  the  lyrical  ele- 
ment is  stronger  and  the  dramatic  turn  is  less. 
The  message  is  introduced  practically  by  a  riddle, 
the  lover  speaking  in  the  character  of  the  wood 
on  which  the  letters  are  cut. 

Another  kind  of   Anglo-Saxon   lyric,  as  deeply 
rooted  in  the  past   as   the   riddles   themselves,  is 
found  in  the  charm-songs.      These  incantations  are       a \ 
remarkable  not  only  Tor   their  evident  antiquity,     \ 
but  also  because  they  reappear,  modified   by  lit- 

i  Cook  and  Tinker,  p.  64.       "-  Ibid. ,  p.  72.       *  lbid.,y.  61. 


24  THE   ELIZABETHAN   LYRIC  [chap. 

erary  genius,  in  Chaucer  and  Shakspere.  At  the 
same  time  they  persisted  untouched  in  those  levels 
of  social  intelligence  in  which  they  had  their 
origin.  Some  of  the  charms  preserved  to  us  seem 
to  have  been  old  when  Christianity  reached  Eng- 
land, if  we  may  consider  as  evidences  of  age 
their  pagan  spirit  and  their  apparent  subjection 
to  long-continued  garbling.1  Others  seem  to  have 
compromised  with  the  new  ideas,  and  appeal  alike 
to  pagan  and  Christian  deities.2  A  few  examples 
are  thoroughly  Christian,  and  are  little  more  than 
prayers.3  This  species  of  literature,  always  of  a 
popular  origin,  keeps  its  simplicity  by  the  condi- 
tion of  its  popular  use.  It  is  lyrical  in  the  Greek 
sense  of  oral  delivery,  since  it  must  be  sung  or 
chanted  to  be  used  at  all.  The  use  to  which  it 
is  put  implies  an  original  subjective  sincerity  on 
the  part  of  the  user,  else  it  would  not  be  a  true 
incantation.  It  usually  has  lyric  unity  of  form, 
perhaps  because  the  user  has  his  mind  intent  on 
the  purpose  of  the  charm.  Some  of  the  examples 
show  a  tendency  toward  repetition,  recurring  to 
one  phrase ;  when  the  lyrics  are  of  any  length, 
this  recurrence  is  recognizable  as  a  refrain;  as  in 
the  charm  for  a  stitch  in  the  neck :  — 

"Loud  were  they,  lo  loud,  when  over  the  hill  they  rode, 
Resolute  were  they  when  over  the  hill  they  rode  ; 

1  Cf.  Nine  herbs  charm,  ibid.,  p.  169. 

2  Cf.  Charm  for  bewitched  laud,  ibid.,  p.  164. 

3  Cf.  Charm  for  lost  cattle,  ibid.,  p.  171. 


ii.]     THE  EARLY  LYRIC  IN  ENGLAND     25 

Now   shield    thyself,    that    thou  mayest    survive    this 

malice  ! 
Out,  little  spear,  if  herein  it  be  ! 
I  stood  under  linden,  under  the  light  shield, 
Where  the  mighty  women  mustered  their  force, 
And  whizzing  spears  they  sent ; 
I  will  send  them  back  another, 
A  flying  dart  directly  against  them. 
Out,  little  spear,  if  herein  it  be  ! "  etc. 

The  charm-songs  have  their  source  in  the  remot- 
est times.  They  grow  out  of  the  primitive  belief 
in  a  power  residing  in  spoken  or  chanted  words 
to  bless  or  destroy.  The  story  of  Orpheus  and 
many  Germanic  tales  illustrate  this  belief.1  The 
charms,  to  be  effective,  must  be  carefully  chosen  as 
to  words,  well  constructed,  rhythmic,  with  the 
quality  of  song.2  Their  essence  is  lyrical.  At  first 
the  power  resides  in  the  words  themselves ;  later, 
with  clearer  conception  of  a  deity,  it  is  ascribed  to 
some  superior  being,  and  the  charm  becomes  a 
prayer.3 

The  religious  lyric  had  but  the  humblest  begin-  ^ 
nings  in  Anglo-Saxon  literature.  The  few  surviv- 
ing examples  betray  a  lack  of  spontaneity  and  of 
song  quality.  The  Address  to  CJirist,i  and  still  more, 
the  Hymn  to  the  Virgin,5  show  that  the  lyric  emo- 
tion is  overlaid  by  the  delight  in  theological  his- 
tory and  doctrine.    The  Address  to  Christ,  however, 

1  Grimm's  Teutonic  Mythology,  trans,  by  J.  S.  Stallybrass, 
London,  1883,  iii.  p.  907. 

2  Ibid.,  p.  1223.  4  Thorpe,  Codex  Exoniensis,  p.  1. 
s  Ibid.,  p.  1235.  5  Ibid.,  p.  5. 


26  THE    ELIZABETHAN   LYRIC  [chap. 

is  remarkable  for  dwelling  not  on  the  death  and 
suffering  of  the  Saviour,  as  usually  in  the  Middle 
English  lyric,  but  on  the  benefits  of  the  Incarna- 
tion, the  rebuilding  of  the  spiritual  life,  and  the 
opening  of  Paradise.  In  this  hymn,  as  in  that  to 
the  Virgin,  the  poet's  imagination  is  struck  by  the 
human  relation  of  the  Virgin  mother  to  her  divine 
son,  —  a  motive  that,  receiving  fuller  development 
from  the  more  sensitive  ideas  of  chivalry,  appears 
prominently  in  the  Middle  English  lyric.  These 
hymns  are  but  poor  examples  of  lyrical  quality  or 
of  lyric  form ;  their  interest  is  that  they  introduce 
what  prove  to  be  important  themes.  On  the 
formal  side  the  short  hymn  of  Csedmon1  is  much 
better,  since  it  expresses  a  single  lyrical  emotion, 
with  no  non-lyric  elements  interpolated;  but  its 
shortness  —  only  nine  lines  —  and  its  fragmentary 
^  nature,  make  it  unimportant. 
^  '  The  Anglo-Saxon  period  yields  one  fine  war-song, 
the  forerunner  of  many  a  later  patriotic  ode  —  the 
Battle  of  Brunanburh.2  This  is  a  true  lyric,  whose 
emotional  unity  has  its  roots  in  the  national  or 
racial  pride,  and  in  the  general  glory  of  battle.  In 
spirit  it  is  very  near  to  the  choric  song,  like  the 
odes  of  Pindar,  being  the  lyrical  expression,  not  of 
one  personality,  but  of  a  community.  Such  lyric 
expression  occurs  only  when  the  community  is 
thoroughly  united  and  fired  by  a  universal  enthusi- 
asm ;  few  examples  are  found  before  Minot,  and 
1  GreinAYiilker,  ii.  p.  316.  2  Cook  and  Tinker,  p.  126. 


ii.]     THE  EARLY  LYRIC  IN  ENGLAND     27 

just  as  few  between  him  and  Drayton.  In  Anglo- 
Saxon  literature  there  may  have  been  numerous 
songs  of  this  character.  A  probable  explanation  of 
their  disappearance  is  that,  unless  used  for  histori- 
cal purposes,  they  would  not  appeal  to  the  monks, 
the  only  scribes,  and  so  would  perish  with  the  tra- 
dition of  oral  recitation.1 

The  two  Anglo-Saxon  lyrics  that  perhaps  connect 
most  easily  with  later  song  history,  are  the  Song  of  i 
Widsith  -  and  Deor's  Complaint.3  The  Song  of  Wid- 
sith is  more  narrative  in  quality  than  lyrical,  but 
it  gives  a  fair  picture  of  the  life  of  the  bard,  and 
of  the  estimation  in  which  his  art  was  held.  Wher- 
ever a  great  man  was  found  who  knew  the  power 
of  song  and  who  desired  fame,  the  bard  was  well 
entertained,  and  in  return  for  the  hospitality  and 
gifts,  he  immortalized  his  host,  —  "eternized,"  as 
the  Elizabethans  would  say.  Deor's  Complaint  is, 
on  the  formal  side,  the  best  lyric  expression  of  the 
period.  It  is  remarkable  for  the  use  of  refrain  and 
for  what  is  practically  stanza-form.  Each  stanza 
treats  one  distinct  phase  of  the  poem,  thrown 
sharply  into  relief  by  the  refrain.  The  climax, 
carefully  prepared,  is  reached  in  the  last  stanza  by 
a  personal  application  of  this  burden.  This  lyric 
method,  in  swiftness,  pointedness,  and  climactic 
force,  suggests  strongly  the  later  French  ballade. 

If  we  were  to  look  for  any  quality  in  the  Anglo- 

i  Cf .  Stopford  Brooke,  Hist.  Eng.  Lit.,  1880,  p.  16. 
2  Cook  and  Tinker,  p.  3.  *  Ibid.,  p.  58. 


28  THE   ELIZABETHAN   LYRIC  [chap. 

Saxon  lyric  that  is  permanent  in  English  song,  we 
should  find  it  to  be  the  dramatic  quality  noticed  in 
the  Wanderer  and  in  the  Seafarer.  The  race  seems 
from  the  first  to  have  the  power  of  expressing  its 
emotion  through  an  imaginative  type.  On  the 
other  hand,  it  is  hard  to  find  any  direct  personal 
expression  in  the  poetry  of  the  period.  Deors 
Complaint  seems  to  strike  an  individual  note,  but  it 
may  be  as  purely  imaginative  as  Widsith's  song 
probably  is;  the  very  name  Widsith  —  "far-trav- 
eller"—  coincides  suspiciously  with  the  contents 
of  the  poem ;  and  some  scholars  —  Ten  Brink,  not- 
ably—  maintain  that  different  parts  of  the  song 
were  composed  at  different  times. 

The  charms  and  the  war-song  remain  constant 
but  infrequent  elements  in  the  national  lyric ;  the 
charms,  though  preserved  in  the  life  of  the  peas- 
ants, seldom  get  into  literature,  and  the  occasions 
of  national  unity  and  success,  such  as  give  rise  to 
the  true  ode  of  war,  occur  rarely  in  any  history. 
The  riddles,  of  course,  as  an  art-form,  disappear 
early;  the  religious  lyric,  however,  soon  becomes 
important. 

n 

The  first  department  of  song  after  the  Conquest 
to  feel  the  effect  of  foreign  influences  was  the  reli- 
gious and  moral  lyric.  At  once  the  Latin  and 
French  rhythms  seemed  to  put  new  vigor  into  what, 


ii.]     THE  EARLY  LYRIC  IN  ENGLAND     29 

during  the  Anglo-Saxon  period,  was  at  best  but  an 
uninspired  form.  The  first  important  lyric  to  show 
the  new  influence  was  the  Moral  Ode,1  written  be- 
fore 1200.  It  follows  the  measure  of  the  classical 
septenarius,  which,  in  the  twelfth  and  thirteenth 
centuries  seems  to  have  taken  strong  hold  of  Eng- 
lish verse.2  The  subject  of  the  ode  is  only  partly 
lyrical ;  it  is  the  statement  of  a  philosophy  of  life, 
and  echoes  the  tone  of  the  old  gnomic  songs.  But 
the  curious  personality,  so  sincerely  revealed  in  the 
poem,  entitles  it  to  rank  well  among  the  lyrics  of 
subjective  expression.  In  its  dark  spirit  and  sen- 
tentious manner,  it  shows  its  nearness  to  the  Anglo- 
Saxon  mood ;  in  verse-form  it  shows  the  arrival  of 
the  Latin  measure  and  the  establishment  of  rime ; 
these  marks  of  its  frontier  position  in  the  growth 
of  the  Middle  English  lyric  constitute  its  impor- 
tance. 

The  Moral  Ode  is  followed  —  about  1210  —  by  the 
Oreison  of  Ure  Lefdi,3  supposed  to  be  a  translation 
from  the  Latin.  The  extremely  exalted  lyric  mood 
of  this  song  shows  at  once  a  fervor  of  religious 
thought  and  a  sincerity  of  poetic  imagery  not  found 
in  the  Anglo-Saxon  lyric.  In  spirit  and  dignity  of 
inspiration  this  is  the  first  typical  example  of  the 
Middle  English  hymn,  though  its  subject-matter, 
derived  from  abroad,  has  not  the  dramatic  element 

1  Morris,  Old  Eng.  Horn.,  2d  series,  p.  220. 

2  Cf.  Guest,  Eng.  Rhxjthms,  W.  W.  Skeat,  p.  474  sq. 
8  Old  Eng.  Horn.,  1st  series,  p.  191. 


30 


THE   ELIZABETHAN   LYRIC 


[chap 


that  later  English  poets  added.  It  is  a  song  of 
pure  adoration,  full  of  very  sincere  reverence  and 
love.  As  in  the  Moral  Ode,  the  lines  are  rimed  in 
couplets,  but  they  show  remarkable  freedom  of 
structure.  They  consist  in  turn  of  septenaries, 
alexandrines,  or  native  alliterative  verses,  as  the 
mood  of  the  poet  takes  him ;  yet  the  different 
schemes  are  skilfully  blended,  and  the  verse  flows 
unbroken.1 

Both  Latin  aQd_Ejenclwnfluences  were  felt  first 
in  the  meter  and  language  of  the  English  lyric, 
but  they  soon  appeared  more  directly.  Certain 
religious  songs  were  formed  on  a  scheme  of  alter- 
nating English  and  Latin  lines ;  the  Latin  lines 
were  usually  short  phrases  of  the  Roman  hymns, 
and  had  somewhat  the  effect  of  burdens  or  refrains, 
yet  served  an  organic  purpose  in  the  sentence  struc- 
ture of  the  stanza.2  Between  1244  and  1250  these 
verses  were  written :  — 

1  A  fragment  attributed  to  St.  Godric  (died  1174)  ought  to  be 
mentioned  for  its  meter.  It  is  an  address  to  the  Virgin  (quoted 
in  Guest,  p.  442) .  Its  two  stauzas  each  express  the  same  idea. 
The  first  is  irregular  and  nnmetrical ;  the  second  is  a  tetrapody 
quatrain,  with  clear  trochaic  movement. 

2  Anglo-Saxon  examples  of  combination  with  Latin,  though 
not  in  lyrics,  are  found  in  Grein-Wiilker,  ii.  pp.  228,  245,  297, 
and  iii.  p.  116,  the  last  eleven  lines  of  the  Phumix.  This  whole 
phenomenon  is  similar  to  the  bilingual  use  of  Provencal  and 
Italian,  by  troubadours  who  came  into  Italy  in  the  twelfth 
century.  Cf.  Flamini,  Storia  della  Lett.  ItaL,  p.  8.  The  mix- 
ture of  other  languages  with  English  is  familiar  in  modern 
poetry;  Longfellow,  for  example,  employs  the  device  several 
times.  But  of  course  it  is  now  a  literary  affectation,  rather 
than  a  bilingual  use. 


n.]  THE   EARLY   LYRIC   IN   ENGLAND  31 

"  Of  on  that  is  so  fayr  and  brigt, 

velud  maris  stella, 
Brigter  han  the  dayis  ligt, 

parens  et  puella ; 
Ic  crie  to  he  f>on  se  to  me, 
Levedi  preye  \>i  son  for  me, 

tarn  pia, 
pat  ic  mote  come  to  \>e, 

Maria."  1 

The  English  and  the  Latin  verses,  in  such  composi- 
tions, have  each  their  own  separate  riming  system. 
The  same  rule  is  observed  where  French  and  Eng- 
lish verses  are  combined,  as  is  seen  in  the  example 
given  by  Warton 2 :  — 

"  Mayden  moder  milde,  oyez  eel  oreysoun, 
From  shome  thou  me  shilde,  e  de  ly  mal  feloun  ; 
For  love  of  thine  childe,  me  menez  de  tresoun, 
Ich  wes  wod  and  wilde,  or  su  en  prisoun,"  etc. 

The  obvious  effect  of  putting  side  by  side  poetic 
systems  so  different,  would  be  to  level  both  to  a 
common  rhythmic  form.  By  this  practice  the 
varied  English  meters  are  smoothed  down  to  con- 
form to  the  more  regular  foreign  models.  For  a 
long  time,  however,  the  change  is  apparent  only  in 
the  writing  of  the  higher  classes,  as  here  —  prob- 
ably in  the  work  of  a  priest  —  one  whose  training 
would  make  him  at  home  with  Latin  and  French, 
rather  than  with  Saxon,  schemes  of  versification. 

1  Old  Eng.  Mis.,  Rich.  Morris.  Early  Eng.  Text  Soc, 
1872.  In  other  cases  the  English  lines  rime  directly  with  the 
Latin;  of.  Percy  Soc,  xxiii.  p.  48. 

2  Hist,  of  Eng.  Poetry,  1824,  i.  p.  86,  Note.  Quoted  from  Mss. 
Hail.  2253. 


32  THE   ELIZABETHAN   LYRIC  [chap. 

The  native  rhythms  keep  their  vigor  in  the  poetic 
expression  of  the  lower  classes,  up  to  the  time  of 
Chaucer,  when  they  are  again  traceable  in  that  poet 
of  culture. 
.  The  direct  effect  of  Latin  lyrics  is  confined  largely 
to  influence  upon  meter  and  stanza,  and  is  found 
first  in  these  songs  of  the  church.  But  at  least  one 
very  different  theme  is  introduced  through  the  Latin 
language  —  the  drinking-song.  The  vigorous  lyric 
ascribed  to  Walter  Map,  —  Mihi  est  proposition  in 
tabema  mori,1  —  brings  into  England  for  the  first 
time  the  spirit  of  clearly  articulated  conviviality. 
Later  examples  will  show,  in  contrast,  that  the 
native  drinking-song  is  forbiddingly  realistic  in 
subject  and  manner.2 
^\  r  The  poems  written  in  Norman-French  had  their 
influence  on  the  narrative  rather  than  on  the  lyric 
part  of  our  literature.  One  great  name  remains, 
however,  though  its  literary  influence  is  practically 
nothing.  Richard  the  Lion-hearted  followed  trou- 
badour traditions,  patronized  famous  minstrels,  and 
himself  practised  the  art.  While  in  prison,  he  is 
supposed  to  have  written  two  sirventes.3    In  one,  — 

1  Percy  Soc,  xxiii.  p.  1.    Festive  Songs,  Wm.  Sandys,  1848. 

2  For  the  same  theme  as  brought  in  through  the  Anglo-Nor- 
man, see  the  drinking-song,  ibid.,  p.  4  : — 

"Or  hi  parra 
La  cervayse  nos  chantera, 
Alleluia!  " 

3  Ausgaben  unci  Abhandlungen  cms  dem  Gebiete  der  Roman- 
ischen  Philologie,  xciv:  Les  plus  unciens  Chansonniers  Fran- 
cais,  par  Jules  Brakelmau,  Marburg,  1891. 


ii.]     THE  EARLY  LYRIC  IN  ENGLAND     33 

Je,  nuls  lions  puis  ne  diva  sa  raison,  —  he  upbraids  in 
bitter  terms  the  friends  that  have  left  him  unres- 
cued  for  two  winters ;  in  the  other,  —  Daufin,  jeus 
voill  deresnier,  —  he  repeats  the  reproach  of  desertion 
more  particularly  to  the  Dauphin  and  Count  Guy. 
Like  most  sirventes  these  songs  are  very  sincerely 
satiric ;  they  have  a  remarkable  vigor  and  swiftness 
that  may  be  referred  to  Richard's  own  character. 
They  are  out  of  the  line  of  the  English  lyric,  how- 
ever, and  did  not  affect  its  development.  Besides 
these  art-lyrics  of  Richard's,  a  number  of  popular 
Norman  songs  must  have  been  familiar  in  England. 
Some  examples  remain  of  hymns  and  carols ; 1 
perhaps  more  interesting  is  the  pedler's  song, 
chanson  de  mercier, 2  in  which  the  wares  are  pro- 
claimed in  the  cataloguing  fashion  familiar  in 
many  a  later  Autolycus :  — 

"  Moult  a  ci  bele  compaignie, 
Merciers  sui,  si  port  mercerie 
Que  je  vendisse  voluntiers, 
Quar  je  ai  besoiug  de  derniers, 

J'ai  les  inignotes  ceinturetes ; 

J'ai  beax  ganz  a  demoiseletes,"  etc.3 

i  For  example,  the  carol :  — 

"  Seignors  ore  entendez  a  nus, 
De  loinz  sumes  venuz  a  vous 
Pur  quere  Noel,"  etc. 
—  Festive  Songs,  Win.  Sandys,  p.  6. 

2  Songs  and  Poems  on  Costume,  Fred.  W.  Fairholt,  Percy 
Soc,  London,  1849. 

3  Translation :   There  is  here  a  very  fair  company ;   I  am  a 
mercer,  and  carry  mercery,  which  I  would  sell  willingly,  for  I 

D 


l> 


34  THE   ELIZABETHAN   LYRIC  [chap. 


Among   the   new   themes   in    the    English   lyric 


V 

A*  ^  should  be  mentioned  the  LuIlabj_^r^hjiabei>song. 
It  seems  to  go  hand  in  hand  with  the  adoration  of 
the  Virgin  in  Middle  English  poetry ;  in  fact,  even 
when  there  is  no  indication  of  a  religious  motive  in 
the  theme,  we  are  made  to  suspect  it  by  a  certain 
reverent  mood.  When  the  lullaby  is  supposed  to 
be  sung  by  the  Virgin,  the  theme  invariably  is  one 
of  pity  for  the  poverty  and  sorrow  into  which  the 
child  is  born  :  — 

"  Jesu,  swete  sone  dere, 
On  thorful  bed  list  thou  here, 
And  that  me  greveth  sore; 
For  thi  cradel  is  ase  a  bere, 
Oxe  and  asse  beth  thi  fere  ; 
"Weope  ich  may  tharfore."  * 

The  same  pessimistic  attitude  toward  life  appears 
in  the  ordinary  lullaby.  In  one  example  the 
mother  sings  to  her  child  that  it  rightly  weeps  on 
coming  into  this  sad  world ;  its  forefathers  wept 
also  when  they  were  alive. 2 

A  less  pleasant  theme,  which   comes  in  at  this 

am  in  want  of  pence  —  I  have  pretty  little  girdles;  I  have  fine 
gloves  for  little  damsels,  etc. 

1  Political,  Religious  and  Love  Poeins.  F.  J.  Furnivall, 
Early  Eng.  Text  Soc,  1866,  p.  226. 

2  "  Lollai,  lollai  little  child  whi  wepestou  so  sore 
Ned  is  mostou  wepe :  hit  was  iyarked  the  yore 
Ever  to  lib  in  sorrow  and  sich  and  mourne  ever 
As  thin  eldren  did  er  this  whil  hi  alives  were 
Lollai  little  child  ;  child  lollai  lollai 
Into  uncouth  world  icommen  so  ertow." 

—  Quoted  in  Guest,  p.  512. 


II.]  THE   EAKLY   LYRIC   IN   ENGLAND  35 

time,  is  the  satiric  song  against  women.  Though  \*\\ 
it  was  a  conventional  motive  on  the  Continent,  it 
does  not  seem  to  have  made  much  impression  on 
the  English  imagination ;  few  examples  of  it  remain. 
One  of  them  is  simply  a  string  of  clumsy  insults, 
apparently  of  popular  manufacture :  — 

"  Ther  were  iii  wylly,  3  wylly  ther  wer ; 
A  fox,  a  fryr,  and  a  woman, 
Ther  wer  three  angry,  3  angry  ther  wer  ; 
A  wasp,  a  wesyll,  and  a  woman,"  etc.  1 

The  theme  is  more  individually  presented  in  the 
song  of  the  hen-pecked  husband,  whose  wife  spends 
all  his  earnings  and,  when  he  complains,  beats  him. 
"  Careful  is  my  hart  therefor !  "  is  the  refrain.2 

The  thirteenth  century  and  the  beginning  of  the  _ 
fourteenth  are  rich  in  love^sgjig-s,  lyrics  of  native  ^a 
sentiment  but  of  French  brightness  —  the  first 
expression  of  the  favorite  Elizabethan  theme. 
If  the  Anglo-Saxon  poem,  the  Love-Letter,  be 
excluded  from  the  class  of  lyric  proper,  the  verses, 
"  Blow,  Northern  Wynd,"  are,  as  Warton  said,3  the 
first  English  love-song.  With  it  should  be  placed  the 
first  song  of  spring,  "  Sumer  is  icumen  in."  *  Both 
songs  have  a  native  flavor  and  spontaneity  not  often 
found  before  the  sixteenth-century  lyrics.  The 
second  example  introduces  the  bird-song  as  the  sign 
of  spring,  a  theme  apparently  native  to  all  countries, 
but  destined  to  become  peculiarly  characteristic  of 

i  Percy  Soc,  xxiii.  p.  4.         2  Ibid.,  p.  26.         3  Hist.,  i.  p.  28. 
4  Ancient  Songs  and  Ballads,  Jos.  Ritson,  1792. 


36  THE   ELIZABETHAN   LYRIC  [chap. 

the  English  lyric.  When  the  French  influence 
makes  itself  felt,  the  themes  of  these  two  songs 
are  usually  blended ;  the  song  of  the  birds  in 
springtime  becomes  the  conventional  stimulus 
of  the  lover's  melancholy.  A  good  example  in 
refinement  of  emotion,  musical  verse,  and  elaborate 
stanza,  is  the  song  to  Alyson  :  — 

"  Bytwene  Mershe  and  Averil 
When  spray  beginneth  to  springe."1 

The  four  stanzas  of  this  poem  contain  each  an 
old  theme,  conventional  already  in  the  French 
lyric,  however  genuinely  they  are  repeated  here. 
In  the  first  stanza  the  poet  tells  of  the  singing  of 
the  birds  in  spring ;  it  rouses  in  him  his  old 
"  love-longing  "  for  Alyson.  In  the  second  stanza 
he  describes  Alyson's  beauty  in  detail.  In  the 
third,  he  tells  of  his  sleepless  nights  when  he 
thinks  of  her.  And  in  the  last,  he  declares  him- 
self worn  out  by  love,  and  begs  mercy  of  Alyson. 
All  these  themes  appear  again,  developed  singly 
or  together  in  later  lyrics.  It  is  characteristic  of 
these  songs,2  that  they  are  rather  long,  and  intro- 
duce more  than  one  lyric  stimulus,  as  in  each 
stanza  of  the  example  quoted,  though  all  have  a 
certain  unity  of  mood.  These  French  lyrics  have 
also,  perhaps  because  of  their  length,  a  tendency 
toward   narrative;   the  poet,  instead   of   revealing 

1  Specimens  of  Lyric  Poetry,  T.  Wright,  Percy  Soc,  1842. 

2  Cf.  the  song  quoted  and  other  examples  in  Morris  and 
Skeat's  Specimens,  ii.  p.  43. 


ii.]  THE   EARLY   LYRIC   IN   ENGLAND  37 

his  love  directly  in  lyric  enthusiasm,  is  likely  to 
enlarge  upon  the  situation  until  it  is  almost  a 
story.  The  detailed  beauty  of  the  poet's  mistress, 
as  treated  in  the  second  stanza  of  the  song  to 
Alyson,  becomes  a  favorite  theme  and  method  in 
the  early  Elizabethan  period.  A  good  example, 
however,  is  found  at  this  time  in  another  lyric  of 
Edward  I's  reign  —  "Mosti  ryden  by  Rybbesdale." x 
After  a  short  narrative  introduction,  the  poet  en- 
ters into  a  minute  and  enthusiastic  catalogue  of  his 
lady's  charms,  the  enthusiasm  furnishing  the  lyrical 
quality. 

Among  the  very  few  elegies  or  funeral-songs  of 
this  period  should  be  mentioned  the  one  quoted 
by  Warton,  on  the  death  of  Edward  I.2  The  only 
conventional  note  in  it  is  the  reproach  of  death, 
after  the  pattern  of  the  French  funeral-plaint, 
though  here  it  is  condensed  in  a  few  lines :  — 

"A  knight  that  wes  so  stronge 
Of  whom  God  hath  donne  ys  wille ; 
Methincketh  that  Deth  has  don  us  wronge 
That  he  so  soon  shall  ligge  stille." 

The  elegy  is  made  up  of  references  to  incidents 
of  Edward's  reign  and  death,  and  hails  the  new 
king,  "  Edward  of  Carnarvon,"  with  the  wish  that 
he  may  be  no  worse  man  than  his  father.  The 
poem  is  remarkable  for  its  lack  of  conventionality, 
its  genuineness,  aud  its  strong  sense  of  personality. 

i  Songs  of  Edward  I's  Reign,  T.  Wright,  Percy  Soc,  1812. 
2  History,  i.  p.  106. 


38  THE   ELIZABETHAN   LYRIC  [chap. 

It  expresses  devotion  to  Edward  as  an  individual, 
and  the  expression  comes  from  an  individual,  not 
from  the  nation. 

The  strong  national  feeling  under  Edward  III 
comes  into  literature  through  the  work  of  Law- 
rence Minot.  His  battle-songs,1  taken  together, 
form  a  unique  picture  of  the  aggressive  side  of 
contemporary  English  character,  and  individually 
each  poem  shows  some  clear-cut  phase  of  patriotic 
prejudice.  That  kind  of  patriotism  that  looks 
upon  its  country  as  the  land  pleasing  to  God,  the 
home  of  the  chosen  people,  is  strong  in  Minot ; 
all  his  battles  properly  begin  with  a  summons  to 
the  Deity  to  arise  and  scatter  the  wicked,2  and 
he  generally  ascribes  satisfactory  results  to  such 
prayers.  At  times  his  national  enthusiasm  de- 
clines into  a  mere  delight  in  revenge,  as  in  the 
songs  to  the  Scotch 3 ;  at  other  times  he  seems  con- 
scious of  the  strength  of  a  united  country,  as  in 
the  song  on  the  sea-fight  at  Sluys,  which  describes 
the  deeds  of  his  countrymen  from  all  parts  of  Eng- 
land.4 In  quality  his  songs  are  choric ;  they  seem 
to  be  sung  by  Edward's  army.  The  one  personal 
note  apparently  is  Minot's  uneasy  solicitude  for 
the  welfare  of  England :  — 

"  Minot  with  mowth  had  menid  to  make 
Suth  sawes  and  sad  for  sum  mens  sake  ; 

1  Lawrence  Minot's  Poems,  Joseph  Hall,  Clarendon  Press, 
1887. 

2  Ibid.,  No.  iv.  3  Ibid.,  Nos.  i,  ii.  4  Ibid.,  No.  v. 


II.]     THE  EARLY  LYRIC  IN  ENGLAND     39 

The  words  of  sir  Edward  makes  me  to  wake, 
Wald  he  salve  us  sone  mi  sorrow  suld  slake  ; 
Were  mi  sorrow  slaked  sone  wald  I  sing  ; 
When  God  will  sir  Edward  sal  us  bute  bring."  x 

Minot's  work  has  the  mark  of  the  popular  ballad 
in  its  simple  rhythm,  its  inaccurate  recital  of  facts, 
due  to  strong  prejudice,  and  in  its  large  use  of 
alliterative  formulas  taken  from  the  popular 
romances.2  They  suggest  the  best  Elizabethan 
street-ballads,  but  they  have  far  more  artistic  con- 
densation and  vigor. 

The  note  that  Minot  adds  to  the  English  lyric  is 
the  praise  of  achievement  —  usually,  but  not  al- 
ways, national  achievement.  Edward,  to  him,  is 
the  ideal  of  prowess,  an  ideal  which  in  the  land- 
fights  he  images  in  the  wild  boar,  and  in  the  sea- 
fights  he  represents  by  the  imposing  figure  of  the 
largest  battleship,  the  Christopher.  The  ideal  is  a 
heartless  one,  for  the  England  that  Minot  glorified 
was  bound  on  expeditions  of  foreign  conquest ;  the 
themes  of  his  song  lack  the  sanction  of  a  noble 
purpose,  like  the  desperate  defence  of  homes,  as  in 
the  Battle  of  Brunanburh.  But  the  pure  love  of 
battle  was  present  also  in  the  earlier  poem,  and  is 
rooted  in  the  national  temperament ;  it  is  objection- 
able in  Minot  only  because  he  treats  it  narrowly, 
blind  to  the  broader  national  life  that  interested 
Chaucer. 

It  is  not  out  of  place  to  mention  the  flowering  of 

1  Lawrence  Minot's  Poems,  No.  v.     2  Ibid.,  cf.  Introduction. 


40  THE   ELIZABETHAN   LYRIC  [chap. 

lyric  poetry  in  AVales  at  the  beginning  of  the  four- 
teenth century.  Op  to  this  time  the  traditions  of 
Celtic  literature  were  preserved  in  their  vigor,  and 
the  prejudice  against  the  English  did  not  altogether 
keep  out  the  good  influences  of  European  culture. 
Indeed,  the  Welsh  poets,  almost  as  soon  as  the  Eng- 
lish, had  the  advantage  of  travel  and  study  abroad. 
But  in  the  fourteenth  century,  after  the  union  with 
England,  the  bards  crossed  the  border,  and  for  the 
most  part  degenerated  into  wandering  minstrels; 
and  whatever  influence  the  Welsh  line  of  poetry 
had  developed  was  merged  in  the  general  strain  of 
English  literature.1  Just  what  these  influences 
were  has  never  been  determined,  but  the  interest- 
ing fact  in  the  history  of  the  English  lyric  is  that 
several  of  the  Welsh  poets,  at  the  very  period  of 
consolidation,  had  attained  to  a  degree  of  Italian 
and  French  culture  not  surpassed  by  any  poets  in 
England ;  they  possibly  were  an  important  channel 
of  the  inspiration  that  from  this  time  to  Elizabethan 
days  moulded  the  lyric.  Chief  of  the  Welsh  poets 
is  David  Ap  Gwilym  {circa  1340-1400),  who  trav- 
elled in  Italy  and  France,  became  well  acquainted 
with  the  literature  of  those  countries,  and  brought 
back  with  him  many  of  their  themes.  One  in  par- 
ticular is  memorable,  since  it  foreshadows  the  fa- 
mous chanson  d'aube  in  Romeo  and  Jidiet,  "  It  is 
the  nightingale,  and  not  the  lark,"  etc.      Gwilym, 

i  Hist,  of  Lit.  of  Wales,  Chas.  Wilkins,  Ph.D.,  Cardiff,  1884, 
p.  13. 


ii.]     THE  EARLY  LYRIC  IN  ENGLAND     41 

following  the  old  French  form,  as  Shakspere  does, 
employs  the  dialogue  between  the  anxious  lover  and 
his  lady,  Morvudd  :  — 

"  Morvudd.  My  accomplished  love,  gentle  and  amiable,  we 
shall  hear,  ere  it  dawns,  the  song  of  the  loud  clear 
voice  of  the  stately  cock  ! 

David.  What  if  the  jealous  churl  (the  husband)  should 
come  in  before  the  dawn  appears  ? 

Morvudd.  David,  speak  of  a  more  agreeable  subject. 
Faint,  alas  !  and  gloomy  are  thy  hopes. 

David.  My  charmer,  bright  as  the  fields  that  glitter  with 
the  gossamer,  I  perceive  daylight  through  the  crevice 
of  the  door. 

Morvudd.  It  is  the  new  moon  and  the  twinkling  stars  and 
the  reflection  of  their  beams  on  the  pillar. 

David.  Ho  !  my  charmer,  bright  as  the  sun,  by  all  that's 
sacred,  it  has  been  day  this  hour. 

Morvudd.  Then  if  thou  art  so  inconstant,  follow  thy  in- 
clinations and  depart."  l  ' 

One  of  the  peculiarities  of  Welsh  poetry  was  that 
the  last  word  of  one  line  was  often  made  the  initial 
word  of  the  next.2  This  kind  of  "  link- verse,"  with 
its  many  varieties,  is  constantly  found  in  English 
poetry  from  this  time  on.  Minot  employs  a  linked 
stanza,  beginning  each  stanza  with  the  last  phrase 
of  the  preceding  one,  and  sometimes  linking  verses 
within  the  stanza  by  the  repetition  of  phrases. 
Other  examples  will  be  noticed  as  they  appear,  until 
Daniel's  sonnets  are  reached,  in  which  often  the  last 
line  of  one  is  the  first  line  of  the  next. 

1  Jones,  Bardic  Museum,  p.  43. 

2  Wilkins,  p.  28. 


42  THE   ELIZABETHAN   LYRIC  [chap. 

Ill 

Chaucer's  lyrics  divide  themselves  into  two 
-x  classes  :  the  lyrics  of  French  and  Italian  verse- 
form,/including  the  ballades,  rondels,  and  plaints; 
and  the  short,  incidental  songs3  in  his  narrative 
poems.  These  last  are  very  interesting.  Not  only 
\do  they  illustrate  the  jirst  artistic  use  of  incidental 
songs  in  our  literature,  but  they  may  be  considered 
i a!Sfm  in  the  development  of  the  Elizabethan  use 
of  lyrics  in  romances  and  the  drama.  It  is  a  com- 
monplace of  literary  history  that  in  early  art-forms, 
lyrical,  narrative,  and  dramatic  methods  are  often 
mingled,  and  that  these  different  species  tend  to 
develop  each  its  own  quality  and  to  separate.  At 
first  the  lyric  has  an  organic  place  in  the  narrative 
or  drama ;  in  time  it  becomes  more  and  more  decora- 
tive ;  it  is  finally  dispensed  with.  The  phenomenon 
has  its  familiar  dramatic  illustrations  in  the  evolu- 
tion of  the  Greek  chorus,  and  in  the  songs  of  Eliza- 
bethan plays.1  The  combination  of  the  lyric  and 
narrative  has  excellent  examples  in  English  litera- 
ture ;  the  xlnglo-Saxon  Chronicle  makes  an  organic 
use  of  lyrics  to  tell  a  story  —  as  of  the  Battle  of 
Brunanbarh.  Chaucer  finds  his  songs  embedded  in 
the  social  life  which  he  portrays,  and  puts  them 
into  his  story  to  make  the  portrait  true  to  nature. 
The  Elizabethans  use  lyrics  in  the  romances  for 

1  For  a  notable  use  of  incidental  songs,  cf.  the  Faerie  Queene, 
especially  bk.  ii.  canto  xii.  st.  74. 


ii.]     THE  EARLY  LYRIC  IN  ENGLAND     43 

purely  decorative  purposes,  and  prefer  to  keep  the 
"  species  separate.  It  will  not  be  out  of  place  to 
notice  in  advance,  that  after  the  lyric  has  dis- 
engaged itself  from  the  other  species,  it  sometimes 
tends  to  revert  to  them ;  as  when  it  forms  itself 
into  a  series  of  songs,  like  the  sonnet-cycles  —  lyric 
units  organized  for  a  narrative  or  dramatic  effect. 

But  though  Chaucer  finds  his  incidental  songs  in  X- 
the  life  of  his  time,  strangely  enough  he  gives  them 
a  different  form  from  what  they  would  have  worn 
if  actually  sung  in  those  days.  The  world  of  chiv- 
alry was  French  and  Italian ;  the  lyric  of  chivalry 
followed  French  and  Italian  models.  When  Chaucer 
himself  writes  a  lyric  outside  of  a  romance,  he 
adopts  the  conventional  forms.  But  in  the  inci- 
dental songs  of  the  narratives,  he  allows  himself 
absolute  freedom,  expressing  his  emotion  simply, 
with  the  least  possible  proportion  of  intellectual 
structure.  The  effect  produced  is  one  of  spontaneity 
and  lightness,  somewhat  like  that  found  in  the  early 
songs  —  "Blow,  Northern  Wynd,"  and  "Sumer  is 
icumen  in,"  mentioned  above,  and  closely  resembling 
the  most  apparent  characteristics  of  the  Elizabethan 
lyric.  A  good  example  is  in  the  Book  of  the  Duchess 
(lines  1175-1181),  where  the  mourner,  telling  the 
poet  of  his  wooing,  repeats  a  song  made  for  his 
lady.  The  intellectual  element  is  very  slight ;  the 
lyric  stimulus  is  the  swift  reference  to  the  lady's 
beauty,  and  the  emotional  attitude  of  mind  is  ex- 
pressed as  swiftly  in  the  wish  for  her  favor :  — 


44  THE   ELIZABETHAN   LYRIC  [cuap. 

"  Lord,  hit  maketh  myn  herte  light, 
Whan  I  thenke  on  that  swete  wight 
That  is  so  semely  on  to  see  ; 
And  wisshe  to  God  hit  might  so  be, 
That  she  wolde  holde  me  for  hir  knight, 
My  lady,  that  is  so  fair  and  bright ! "  * 

The  earlier  song  in  the  same  poem,  lines  475-486, 
though  longer,  shows  the  same  freedom  of  spirit, 
and  is  more  varied  in  riming-system.  In  subject, 
however,  it  is  conventional,  modelled  closely  upon 
the  French  plaint,  with  its  upbraiding  of  Death. 

These  qualities  of  spontaneity  and  lightness  show 
even  more  strikingly  in  the  numerous  bird-songs 
throughout  Chaucer's  poems.  In  these  short  lyric 
bursts,  usually  but  a  verse  or  two  in  length,  the 
poet  attempts  to  translate  into  words  the  inarticu- 
late delirium  of  birds  in  spring.  The  songs  are  all 
dramatic,  in  the  sense  that  Chaucer  is  trying  to 
express  himself  through  the  character  of  larks  and 
thrushes ;  and  since  he  is  reproducing  the  vague, 
emotional  effect  of  joy,  without  any  intellectual 
intent,  the  only  elements  in  the  songs  are  exuberance 
and  brightness  of  emotion.  This  joyous  note  is  a 
new  one  in  the  English  lyric,  for  which  Chaucer  is 
probably  indebted  to  France ;  it  remains,  however, 
an  ideal  of  later  song-writing.  One  of  the  best 
examples  is  the  expression,  by  a  dramatic  form  of 
imagination,  of  the  pride  of  the  birds  that  had 
survived  the  winter  :  — 

i  Chaucer's  Works,  W.  W.  Skeat,  Oxford  Press,  1892,  p.  95. 
As  Chaucer  is  using  the  couplet  rime,  he  rimes  his  song  aabbcc, 
thus  securing  au  effect  of  uuity  and  almost  of  stanzaic  form. 


ii.]     THE  EARLY  LYRIC  IN  ENGLAND     45 

"  This  was  hir  song  —  '  The  fouler  we  defye, 
And  all  his  craft  !"' ! 

As  in  the  songs  from  the  Book  of  the  Duchess, 
Chaucer  here  makes  no  attempt  to  exhaust  the 
lyric  emotion,  or  even  to  develop  it.  This  absence 
of  conscious  structure,  though  out  of  keeping  with 
the  art-forms  then  popular,  according  to  later  ideas 
leaves  the  song-quality  unimpaired  and  makes 
these  fragments  seem  more  modern  than  the  bal- 
lades and  the  complaints. 

The  use  of  incidental  lyrics  is  old  in  other  litera- 
tures ;  a  familiar  illustration  is  the  number  of 
songs  in  Theocritus.  Chaucer  was  the  first  Eng- 
lish poet  to  employ  the  effect,  and  he  probably 
modelled  his  use  upon  the  French  fabliaux.  In 
Italian  literature,  it  is  true,  incidental  lyrics  are 
found;  but  here  the  songs  are  formal,  whereas  in 
the  fabliaux  they  are  of  the  simpler,  more  spon- 
taneous quality,  as  in  Chaucer.2 

1  Prologue  to  Legend  of  Good  Women,  Complete  Works, 
p.  353, 1.  137.  The  same  effect  is  repeated  a  few  lines  further  on, 
by  a  more  human  image :  — 

"  In  hir  delyt,  they  turned  hem  ful  ofte, 
And  songen,  '  blessed  be  seynt  Valentyn ! 
For  on  this  day  I  chees  yow  to  be  myn, 
Withouten  repenting,  myn  herte  swete!  '  "  —  1. 141. 

2  Cf .  the  three  songs  in  the  Lai  d'Aristote,  especially  the 
second :  — 

"  Ci  me  retient  amoretes, 
Douce  trop  vous  aim, 
Ci  me  tieuent  amoretes, 
Ou  je  tieng  ma  main." 
—  Fabliaux  et  Conies.     Larljazau,  Paris,  1808,  iii.  p.  107. 


46  THE   ELIZABETHAN   LYRIC  [chap. 

Another  portion  of  Chaucer's  lyrics  suggests  in 
.^\y  spirit  the  Elizabethan  age.  In  the  lover's  plaints, 
such  as  the  one  in  Anelida  and  Arcite,1  the  mood 
and  tone  suggest  the  later  sonnet-series.  The  sub- 
ject-matter in  both  is  the  same,  and  the  manner 
nearly  identical.  In  this  particular  example,  the 
stanzas,  of  nine  lines  each,  are  sharply  separated, 
giving  the  effect  of  a  cycle.  Each  stanza  is  a  lyric 
in  itself,  and  serves  as  a  link  between  other  units. 
The  Renascence  in  England  had  but  to  furnish  an 
inviting  vehicle  of  expression,  like  the  sonnet,  in 
order  to  revive,  not  introduce,  the  lyric  mood  most 
characteristic  of  the  Elizabethan  period. 
^\{  The  number  of  lyrics  that  Chaucer  puts  in  the 
form  of  letters  should  also  be  noted.  This  conven- 
tion, reminiscent  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  poem,  the 
Love-Letter,  and  surviving  well  into  the  Elizabethan 
period,  is  a  favorite  with  Chaucer ;  some  examples 
of  it  are,  the  complaint  that  Anelida  writes  to 
Arcite,2  the  letter  from  Troilus  to  Criseyde,3  and 
its  reply.4 
,  The  portion  of  Chaucer's  lyrics  most  often  no- 

*  ticed,  the  French  ballade  and  rondel  forms,  is  not 
important  in  the  later  development  of  the  lyric. 
It  was  a  temporary  fashion,  and  so  far  failed  to 
take  hold  of  English  poetry,  that  Chaucer  him- 
self rarely  followed  the  forms  strictly.  Gower  set 
the   fashion   for   the   ballade   with   his    Cinquante 

i  Works,  p.  116.  \cP\  3  Ibid.,  p.  317. 

2  Ibid.,  p.  116.  4  Ibid.,  p.  321. 


u.J     THE  EARLY  LYRIC  IN  ENGLAND     47 

Balades,  a  series  of  French  love-poems.1  It  is  at 
once  apparent,  on  comparing  these  with  Chaucer's 
ballades,  that  the  obligation  for  the  refrain  and  the 
envoy  is  not  binding  on  the  latter  poet.2  Of  the 
ten  examples  found  in  Chaucer's  works,  seven 
employ  the  refrain,3  six  have  the  envoy,4  and  only 
three  have  both.5  The  riming-system  is  usually 
the  same  for  every  stanza,  but  two  envoys  are 
made  on  different  rimes  from  the  rest  of  the 
ballade.  The  rime-royal  is  the  favorite  stanza- 
form  ;  the  cognate  system,  ababbcbc,  however, 
seems  also  to  be  Chaucer's  ideal  of  the  ballade 
measure.  The  verses  in  all  the  ballades  are  penta- 
podies.  In  Gower's  ballades,  as  in  Chaucer's  Eng- 
lish examples,  the  tendency  of  the  form  toward 
stereotyped  expression  is  evident;  Chaucer's  bal- 
lades have  more  of  the  spontaneity  of  his  incidental 
songs. 

Chaucer  has  four  rondel^,  all  on  the  same  sys- 
tem.6 They  are  eight  lines  long ;  after  the  second 
stave,  the  first  two  lines  are  repeated  as  the  refrain, 
and  after  the  third  stave,  the  entire  first  stanza  is 
repeated,  giving  the  system,  ABB,  ABab,  ABBabb. 

1  Works,  G.  C.  Macaulay,  Oxford,  1901. 

2  Guest,  p.  635.  "  The  envoy  prevailed  most  in  the  fourteenth 
and  the  burthen  in  the  fifteenth  century." 

3  Cf.  Balade  to  Truth,  p.  122. 

4  Cf.  Womanly  Noblesse,  p.  129. 

5  Cf.  Truth,  p.  122,  Steadfastness,  p.  123,  and  Complaint  to  his 
Purse,  p.  126. 

6  Merciless  Beautd,  p.  121,  and  Parlement  of  Foules, 
p.  110. 


it 


48  THE   ELIZABETHAN   LYRIC  [chap. 

On  the  same  plan,  evidently,  is  built  the  incomplete 
rondel  that  Arcite  sings  : l  — 

"  May,  with  alle  thy  floures  and  thy  grene, 
"Wel-come  be  thou,  faire  fresshe  May, 
I  hope  that  I  som  grene  gete  may." 

Chaucer  himself  calls  it  a  rondel  in  line  671. 

The  rondel  of  thirteen  verses  has  no  example  in 
English  of  this  period.  The  rondel  of  ten  verses, 
however,  is  charmingly  used  by  Charles  d'Orleans 
in  his  English  poems.  He  uses  the  first  two 
lines  as  a  refrain,  on  the  system,  ABBA,  ABab, 
ABBAab,  as  in  the  verses :  — 

"  My  ghostly  father  !  I  me  confess, 
First  to  God,  and  then  to  you, 
That  at  a  window,  wot  ye  how  ! 
I  stole  a  kiss  of  great  sweetness  ! 
Which  done  was  out  avisinesse. 
But  it  is  done  ;  not  undone  now ! 
My  ghostly  father  .  .  . 
First  to  .  .  . 

But  I  restore  it  shall  doubtless 
Again,  if  so  be  that  I  mow  ! 
And  that  God  I  make  a  vow, 
And  else  I  ask  forgiveness. 
My  ghostly  .  .  . 
First  to  .  .  ."2 

Lydgate  follows  the  same  model  in  the  rondel 
on  the  coronation  of  Henry  VI,  "  Rejoice,  ye  realms 
of  England  and  of  France." 3  With  this  one  excep- 
tion,  Lydgate's    shorter   poems    have   neither   the 

i  Knightes  Tale,  1.  652,  p.  438. 

2  Arber  Anthologies,  the  Dunbar  Anthology ,  London,  1901, 
p.  122.  8  Quoted  in  Guest,  p.  646. 


II.]  THE   EARLY   LYRIC    IN   ENGLAND  49 

emotional  development  nor  the  unity  of  the  lyric. 
They  incline  to  be  narrative  or  satiric  ballads.  Of 
this  characteristic  side  of  his  genius,  the  familiar 
illustration  is  the  vigorous  ballad  London  Lick- 
penny} 

Thomas  Occleve,  Lydgate's  contemporary,  also 
has  little  lyric  gift.  He  wrote  a  number  of  so-called 
ballades,  such  as  the  Balade  to  my  gracious  Lord  of 
York,2  all  of  which  are  complimentary  epistolary 
addresses.  They  lack  the  ballade  structure,  having 
neither  refrain  nor  envoy.  More  successful  on  the 
formal  side  is  the  rondel  called  Chaneson  to  Somer? 
which  follows  Chaucerian  models. 

The  religious  songs  of  this  period  may  be  divided 
into  three  classes:  the  direct  addresses  to  God  or  to  (0 
Mary;  lyrics  on  some  biblical  subject,  such  as  the  (^ 
crucifixion ;    and  dramatic  songs,  in  which  Christ    7> ) 
or  the  Virgin  speaks,  sometimes  both  in  dialogue. 
Of  the  first  class,  the  earlier  songs  to  the  Virgin 
already  quoted  will  still  serve  as  typical  examples. 
The    second   class,  those   lyrics  written    on    some 
episode  in  the  life  of  Christ,  have  several  realistic 
pieces  in  this  period.     They  show  an  advance  in 
lyric  art,   a  more  condensed  mode  of  expression, 
occasionally  individual  touches  of  great  power.     A 
good  example  is  the  song,  "  I  sigh  when  I  sing," 4  in 

1  Minor  Poems,  J.  O.  Halliwell,  1840,  Percy  Soc,  ii.  p.  103. 

2  Minor  Poems,  F.  J.  Furnivall,  1892,  Early  Eng.  Text  Soc, 
xli.  p.  49. 

s  Ibid.,  p.  60. 

4  England's  Antiphon,  George  MacDouald,  p.  11. 
B 


50  THE   ELIZABETHAN   LYRIC  [chap. 

which  the  story  of  the  crucifixion  is  told.  The 
poem  differs  from  earlier  treatments  of  the  same 
theme  by  discarding  narrative  elements,  and  fixing 
the  attention  upon  the  picture  of  Christ  on  the 
cross.  This  picture  is  the  stimulus  of  the  poet's 
lyric  emotion,  and  is  kept  before  the  reader's  eyes 
by  frequent  references,  as  if  from  time  to  time  he 
should  turn  to  look  at  a  painting,  and  then  express 
the  emotions  occasioned  by  the  sight  of  it.  The 
details  of  the  picture  are  carefully  worked  out ;  for 
example,  the  cross  is  described  as  set  up  in  a  pile  of 
stones  which  become  splashed  with  the  dripping 
blood. 

The  third  class,  the  dramatic  songs,  are  repre- 
sented in  their  simplest  form  by  an  appeal  from 
Christ  to  man  to  show  more  gratitude  for  his  re- 
demption. This  kind  of  lyric  runs  too  easily  into 
religious  dogma,  and  few  examples  of  it  deserve  to 
be  called  lyrics.  One  early  example,  however,  is 
better  than  the  average.  It  seems  to  have  two 
forms ;  in  one  Christ,  and  in  the  other  the  Virgin, 
plead  with  man  not  to  refuse  their  love.  The 
substance  of  both  forms  is  the  same,  and  both  use 
the  refrain — "Quia  Amore  Langueo."1  A  better 
example,  which  may  be  anticipated  here,  is  Skel- 
ton's  lyric,  Wofully  Amid,2  in  which  Christ  is  the 
speaker,  with  the  usual   theme.     A  more   compli- 

1  Political,  Beligious,  and  Love  Poems,  F.  J.  Furnivall, 
p.  150. 

'2  Poems,  Rev.  Alexander  Dyce,  i.  p.  141. 


II.]  THE   EARLY   LYRIC   IN   ENGLAND  51 

catecl  form  of  these  dramatic  songs  is  that  in  which 
both  Christ  and  the  Virgin  speak.  The  best  exam- 
ple is  the  song :  — 

"  Stand  well,  moder,  under  rood  ; 
Beholde  thy  son  with  glade  mood, 

Blithe  mother  may'st  thou  be  ! 
Son,  how  should  I  blithe  stand  ? 
I  see  thy  feet,  I  see  thy  hand 
Nailed  to  the  hard  tree." 1 

In  each  stanza  Christ  continues  to  address  Mary 
in  the  first  half  of  the  strophe,  and  her  answer  is 
given  in  the  other  half.  The  song  is  almost  as  dra- 
matic as  some  of  the  early  mysteries ;  and  it  may 
be  that  the  imagination  of  these  fifteenth-century 
religious  poets  received  its  realistic  and  dramatic 
force  from  the  sight  of  the  old  themes  on  the 
stage. 

Robert  Henryson's  Robene  and  Makyne,2  the 
first  pastoral  in  the  language,  as  it  has  been  called, 
deserves  a  place  in  the  history  of  English  lyrics, 
though  it  is  the  work  of  a  Scotch  poet ;  for  it 
sounds  the  typical  note  of  the  early  Elizabethan 
poetry.  The  subject  is  the  perennial  one  of  the 
(Ubat,  the  dialogue  of  the  wooing  lover  and  the 
heartless  lady.  Henryson  gets  two  situations  from 
the  theme,  first  by  making  the  lady  woo  in  vain,  and 
then  by  letting  the  lover  change  his  mind,  when 
it  is  too  late.  The  swiftness  of  the  song  and  the 
rhythm  —  alternating   lines  of   four  and  three  ac- 

1  England's  Antiphon,  p.  9.        -  Dunbar  Anthology,  p.  146. 


52  THE   ELIZABETHAN   LYEIC  [chap. 

cents  —  suggest  the  popular  ballad;  the  poem  is 
Indeed  an  art-version  of  that  form.  It  is  strongly 
marked  by  humor,  —  the  humor  of  love,  —  without 
any  cynicism  or  lack  of  sympathy.  The  subject 
of  pastoral  love,  and  this  flavor  of  humor  in  the 
treatment,  are  the  two  elements  in  which  the  poem 
foreshadows  the  Elizabethan  lyrics. 

A  no  less  vigorous,  though  sometimes  less  deli- 
cate, exponent  of  humor  and  lyric  power,  is  found 
in  England  in  John  Skelton.  It  is  too  much  to 
see  in  him  an  early  Elizabethan,  as  some  have 
done ;  his  qualities  on  the  whole  are  those  of  his 
time.  In  the  elegy  on  the  death  of  Edward  IV,1 
he  uses  conventional  subject-matter,  the  frailty  of 
human  greatness,  etc. ;  but  he  escapes  the  reproach 
of  perfunctoriness  by  adopting  the  dramatic  method 
of  the  religious  song,  and  making  Edward  speak 
for  himself.  Some  of  his  lyrics  echo  the  old 
satiric  songs  against  woman ;  such  are  "  Woman- 
hood, wanton  ye  want," 2  and  "  My  darling  dere,  my 
daysy  floure."3  They  have  an  astonishing  vigor 
and  humor,  and  inevitably  suggest  the  longer 
satiric  poems  of  the  same  poet.  A  more  interest- 
ing group  of  Skelton's  lyrics,  however,  are  parts 
of  Philipe  Sparrow*  and  the  songs  to  ladies  in  the 
Garland  of  LaurellP  These  have  the  grace  of 
Chaucer's  incidental  lyrics ;  their  daintiness  is 
surprising   in    comparison   with   the   man's    other 

1  Poems,  i.  p.  1.  3  Paid.,  p.  22.  5  Ibid.,  p.  361. 

2  Ibid.,  p.  20.  *  Ibid.,  p.  51. 


II.]     THE  EARLY  LYRIC  IN  ENGLAND     53 

work.     A  fair  illustration  is  the  song  to  Margery 
Wentworthe :  — 

"  With  Margerain  ientyll, 
The  flower  of  goodly  hede. 
Embrowdered  the  mantill 
Is  of  your  maydenhede. 
Plainly  I  cannot  glose 
Ye  be,  as  I  deveyne, 
The  praty  primrose, 
The  goodly  columbine. 
With  Margerain  ientyll,"  etc.2 

Skelton  is  the  last  lyric  poet  of  any  consequence 
before  Surrey  and  Wyatt.  In  many  respects  he 
is  a  follower  of  Chaucer,  like  his  contemporaries ; 
but  they,  as  a  rule,  incline  more  to  Chaucer's  narra- 
tive and  allegorical  vein.  Of  these  poets  Dunbar 
seems  the  most  important;  though  the  intention  of 
much  of  his  work  is  narrative,  he  has  considerable 
lyric  quality.  His  poem,  the  Merle  and  the  Night- 
ingale, for  example,  is  a  fine  lyric,  though  the  few 
introductory  stanzas  are  not.  This  song  is  inter- 
esting as  a  development  of  Chaucer's  ballade-forms. 
It  has  two  alternating  refrains,  but  no  envoy ;  the 
refrains  are  made  typical  of  the  bird  that  sings 
them,  like  the  alternating  refrains  of  the  Nut-brown 
Maid.  The  stanza-form  is  ababbcbc,  which,  as  we 
saw  before,  is  identified  with  Chaucer's  ballade- 
measures.  The  religious  subject-matter  is  charac- 
teristic of  the  contemporary  verse  in  general,  and 
especially    of    Dunbar.     It    appears    again   in   the 

i  Ibid.,  p.  398. 


54  THE   ELIZABETHAN   LYRIC  [chap. 

song,  "  Now  cooled  is  Dame  Venus'  brand,"  1  with 
its  effective  refrain  of  two  lines.  The  same  love  of 
refrains  is  seen  in  the  ballade  on  London,  which 
shows  Dunbar's  love  of  the  city  in  rather  unin- 
spired words.2  It  employs  the  same  Chaucerian 
ballade-measure  as  the  Merle  and  the  Nightingale, 
with  a  refrain,  but  no  envoy.  The  Lament  for  the 
Makaris3  illustrates  a  dignified  use  of  a  short  line 
(four  accents)  and  a  short  stanza  (three  lines,  with 
Latin  refrain).  Its  elevation  of  mood  and  the 
short  movement  of  its  verse  recall  the  Dies  Irae. 
In  the  Thistle  and  the  Rose*  we  have  ample  oppor- 
tunity to  judge  Dunbar  by  Chaucer's  lyric  methods. 
The  poem  is  an  allegory  of  birds  and  flowers 
(like  the  Parlement  of  Foules),  to  celebrate  the 
marriage  of  Margaret  of  England  and  James  IV 
of  Scotland.  There  are  incidental  bird-songs  and 
flower-songs,  as  when  the  lark  sings  his  chanson 
d'anbade :  — 

"  Awake,  Lovers,  out  of  your  slumbering  ! 
See  how  the  lusty  morrow  does  upspring  ! ' ' 

But  the  point  of  view  is  human;  in  none  of  the 
bird-songs  does  Dunbar  express  the  joy  of  the  birds 
dramatically,  as  Chaucer  does ;  we  are  made  to  feel 
that  he  is  using  them  for  an  allegory,  not  for  a 
picture  of  nature. 

The  only  other  lyric  expression  to  be  found  in 
the  narrative  works  of  this  period  is  in  Stephen 

1  Dunbar  Anthology ,  p.  46.  3  Ibid.,  p.  23. 

2  Ibid.,  p.  31.  +  Ibid.,  p.  34. 


ii.]     THE  EARLY  LYRIC  IN  ENGLAND     55 

Hawes'  Pastime  of  Pleasure.  A  lyric  effect  is 
obtained  throughout  this  narrative  allegory,  by 
making  the  hero  tell  his  own  story.  But  several 
parts  are  more  especially  lyric,  as  the  commenda- 
tion of  Gower,  Chaucer,  and  Lydgate,  in  chapter 
xiv.,  and  the  epilogue,  or  Excusation  of  the  Author} 
This  last  is  one  of  those  familiar  addresses  to  the 
reader,  commending  the  book,  which  later  became 
frequent  in  Elizabethan  poetry. 

In  this  chapter  only  the  more  significant  lyrics 
of  the  Middle  English  period  have  been  mentioned. 
Several  narrative  poems  with  notable  lyrical  quality 
have  been  passed  over,  because  their  influence  upon 
the  later  lyric  is  slight.  The  illustration  that  will 
readily  occur  to  the  reader  is  the  Pearl.2  For  in- 
numerable other  examples  the  reader  is  referred  to 
the  familiar  collections  of  the  Early  English  Text 
Society  and  of  the  Percy  Society,  and  for  charming 
examples  of  carols,  to  the  fourth  volume  of  the 
Warton  Club  Publications.3 

1  Percy  Soc,  xviii.  p.  220. 

2  Early  Eng.  Allit.  Poems,  R.  Morris,  1864,  Early  Eng.  Text 
Soc.,  i.  p.  1.    Edited  separately,  I.  Gollancz,  1891. 

3  Songs  and  Carols,  Thomas  Wright,  1856. 


CHAPTER  III 

LYRIC  THEMES  AND  LYRICAL  QUALITY  IN  THE 

MISCELLANIES 


The  Elizabethan  lyric  first  presented  itself  to  the 
public  in  the  popular  collections  called  Miscellanies. 
The  first  printed  collection  of  this  kind,  TotteVs 
Miscellany,  1557,  is  usually  reckoned  the  starting- 
point  of  the  great  lyric  era.  But  both  the  themes 
of  the  songs  and  the  mode  of  publishing  had  their 
roots  deep-set  in  the  earlier  literature.  The  habit 
of  making  manuscript  collections  of  favorite  songs 
for  convenience  in  singing  was  very  common  dur- 
ing the  early  part  of  the  Tudor  period,  and  perhaps 
earlier.  Eour  or  five  examples  are  preserved,  and 
show  clearly  the  connection  between  the  old  lyric 
and  the  new.1  The  largest  collection  is  particularly 
valuable  because  it  contains  several  pieces  by  Henry 
VIII.  On  account  of  its  importance  it  will  be  con- 
sidered first. 

Since   the   birth  of  Prince  Henry,   in   1511,   is 

1  Liedersanirnlungen  der  XVI  Jahrhunderte,  besonders  aus 
der  Zeit  Heinrech's  VIII,  Fliigel,  Anglia,  xii.  p.  225.  A  few  of 
the  songs,  with  facsimiles  of  the  music,  can  he  found  in  an 
article  by  Win.  Chappell  in  Archxologia,  xli.  pt.  ii.  p.  371. 

56 


ciiAr.  in.]  LYRIC   THEMES  57 

mentioned  in  one  of  the  songs,  the  manuscript  is 
assigned  to  the  year  immediately  after.  It  should 
be  remembered  that  this  collection  belonged  to 
a  gentleman  of  rank,  perhaps  to  the  king,  and  it 
reflects  his  tastes,  not  those  of  the  average  man. 
Some  of  the  songs  are  signed ; 1  the  others  may  be 
old  compositions,  or  the  work  of  contemporary 
writers ;  one  evidently  is  a  version  of  a  song  by 
Sir  Thomas  Wyatt.2  Though  the  familiar  themes 
of  the  Middle  English  lyric  are  represented,  they  n  tJylr 
show  a  double  change,  due  to  the  effect  of  time -and  flAJ  • 
to  the  narrower  range  of  emotions  in  which  the 
court  gentleman  found  enjoyment.  This  narrowing 
of  the  lyric  theme  is  illustrated  by  the  patriotic 
song,  which  shows  already,  in  the  three  examples 
of  this  collection,  a  change  from  love  of  country  to 
loyalty  to  the  king ; 3  there  is  even  a  suggestion  of 
the  courtly  compliment,  so  conspicuous  under  Eliza- 
beth and  the  Stuarts.  The  one  war-song  in  the  col- 
lection, "  England,  be  glad,  pluck  up  thy  lusty  hart," 
referring  to  the  approaching  war  of  1513  with  the 
French,  is  far  removed  from  the  old  fighting  spirit ; 
it  is  an  attempt  to  rouse  enthusiasm,  instead  of 
being  an  involuntary  expression  of  it.4 

The  second  class  of  songs  on  old  themes,  in- 
cludes  the   songs  of  moral   or   gnomic  character.         [^ 

1  Fourteen  are  by  Henry  VIII,  ten  by  William  Cornysh, 
four  by  Ffardyng,  and  four  by  Dr.  Cooper,  two  by  Ffluyd,  and 
one  each  by  Wra.  Daggere,  Rysbye,  and  Pygott. 

2  "  A  robyn,  gentle  robin,"  Anglia,  xii.  p.  241. 

3  Ibid.,  p.  250.  *  Ibid.  p.  250. 


58  THE   ELIZABETHAN   LYRIC  [cHAr. 

Their  range  is  greatly  narrowed ;  there  are  no  mort- 
uary songs  among  them  on  the  shortness  of  life 
or  the  vanity  of  beauty.  They  are  shorter  also  and 
more  epigrammatic  than  the  popular  version  of 
such  precepts.  They  deal  with  courtly  bits  of 
wisdom,  such  as  the  Praise  of  Sincerity  in  Love,1 
and  the  Praise  of  Virtuous  Youth,2  yet  without 
losing  the  native  gnomic  manner.  Many  of  these 
are  signed  with  Henry's  name,  and  one  cannot  help 
noticing  how  he  recurs  to  what  is  evidently  his 
favorite  theme  —  the  praise  of  sincerity  in  wooing 
and  the  scorn  of  all  trifling  in  love :  — 

' '  Whoso  that  wyll  for  grace  sew, 
Hys  intent  must  nedys  be  trew, 
And  love  her  in  hart  and  dede, 
Els  it  war  pyte  that  he  should  spede."  s 

There  is  nothing  new  or  surprising  in  Henry's 
point  of  view,  but  in  another  song  he  gives  a 
characteristic  reason  for  disliking  double-dealing 
in  love ;  the  insincere  gallant,  he  says,  does  great 
harm,  for  he  prevents  better  men  from  making 
love  to  the  lady :  — 

"  For  often  tymes  when  they  do  sewe, 
They  hinder  lovers  that  wolde  be  trew."  * 

Religious  poems  are  represented  in  this  collec- 
tion by  only  one  song.  It  is  a  lullaby  sung  by  the 
Virgin  to  the  Child.  The  refrain  is  in  Latin,  and 
the  song,  after  the  old  manner  of  introducing  such 

i  Anglia,  xii.  p.  238.  3  Ibid.,  p.  248. 

2  Ibid.,  p.  233.  *  ibid.,  p.  243. 


in.]  LYRIC   THEMES  59 

themes,  is  supposed  to  be  overheard  by  the  poet. 
The  poet  evidently  fears,  however,  that  the  lyric 
may  be  mistaken  for  an  ordinary  slumber-song, 
and  to  prevent  such  an  error,  adds  a  few  verses 
in  a  different  rhythm,  to  explain  that  he  refers  to 
the  holy  family.1 

This  manuscript  contains  also  a  large  number 
of  English  love-plaints,  and  some  half  dozen  in 
French,  repeating  the  traditional  mood  of  this 
kind  of  song.  They  are  much  simpler,  however, 
than  Chaucer's  handling  of  the  same  theme.  In 
this  respect  they  are  nearer  the  form  of  the  prac- 
tical song.  They  turn  upon  one  situation  which 
is  not  elaborated  nor  more  than  adequately  ex- 
pressed; in  one  parting-song  there  are  but  two 
lines,  which  the  manuscript  says  should  be  sung 
three  times  in  order  to  piece  out  the  tune  :  — 

"  Departure  is  my  chief  paine, 
I  trust  ryght  wel  of  retorne  agane."  2 

The  theme  of  farewell  at  parting  and  the  plead- 
ings of  unrequited  love  furnish  the  bulk  of  these 
plaints  with  subject-matter.  The  only  point  to  be 
noticed  is  the  bare  way  in  which  these  conven- 
tional situations  are  expressed ;  the  emotional  color 
is  left  for  thejnusic  to  supply. 

The  new  themes  in  this  miscellany  give  evidence 

both  of  a  growing  native  strain  in  the  lyric,  and  of 

the  influence   of  that   Romance   pastoral   element 

which  marked  the  first  years  of  Elizabethan  poetry. 

1  Ibid.,  p.  252.  2  MM.,  p.  243. 


U' 


60  THE    ELIZABETHAN    LYRIC  [chap. 

The  English  strain  is  seen  in  the  hunting-songs,  of 
which  there  are  several,  in  the  spring-songs,  and  in 
one  sturdy  lyric  of  the  holly  and  ivy.  These  are 
all  expressive  of  a  life  of  boisterous  good-humor 
and  feasting,  of  the  spirit  of  "Merry  England." 
No  doubt  the  song-makers  of  Henry's  court  had 
more  of  a  holiday-time  than  the  rank  and  file  of 
poets.  The  king  himself,  in  the  famous  song  that 
heads  the  collection,  says :  — 

"  Pastime  with  good  company, 
I  love  and  shall  until  I  die."  1 

In  accordance  with  this  spirit,  the  hunting-songs 
have  little  substance  except  the  general  atmosphere 
of  the  sport,  got  mainly  from  the  repetition  of 
cheerful  phrases  like,  aBlow  ye  horn,  hunter," 
and  "  Sore  the  dere  stricken  is."  2  Their  lack  of 
art  suggests  that  they  have  been  transcribed  un- 
changed from  the  familiar  life  of  the  hunt. 

The  same  fresh  spirit  gives  importance  to  the 
spring-songs,  though  their  theme  is  as  old  as  lyric 
poetry.  Their  method  of  construction  is  simple  — 
merely  a  catalogue  of  familiar  spring  images,  young 
buds,  red  roses  and  white,  and  the  song  of  birds.3 
They  have  little  verbal  melody  or  art ;  as  in  all 
true  songs,  the  words  are  adequate  to  express  the 
lyric  motive,  and  the  emotion  is  largely  supplied 
by  the  music.  The  same  construction  is  apparent 
in  the  Song  of  the  IloJbj,  though  here  the  theme  is 

1  Anglkt,  xii.  p.  230. 

2  Ibid.,  p.  238.       3  "  In  may  that  lusty  season,"  ibid.,  p.  232. 


Hi.]  LYRIC   THEMES  61 

new  —  a  single  love  motive,  expressed  entirely  in 
English  images :  — 

' '  Grene  growth  ye  holy  so  doth  ye  Ive 
Thow  wynter  blastys  blow  never  so  hye. 
As  the  holy  growth  grene 
And  never  changeth  hew, 
So  I  am  —  ever  hath  been 
Unto  my  lady  true."1 

The  Romance  influence  is  seen  in  several  songs, 
but  chiefly  in  one  minute  imitation  of  the  pastourelle.  (  n 
In  the  conventional  version  of  this  Romance  form 
the  poet  meets  a  woman  (usually  a  shepherdess) 
and  pleads  for  her  love ;  she  argues  the  case  with 
him  and  finally  gives  in  or  not  as  she  chooses ;  some- 
times her  brother  or  her  father  happens  along,  and 
puts  a  quick  end  to  the  poet's  wooing.  The  argu- 
ment between  the  lover  and  the  woman,  the  debat, 
is  the  lyrical  part  of  the  poem,  and  the  most  impor- 
tant.2 For  the  oldest  Romance  example  of  it,  it  is 
customary  to  refer  to  the  Contrasto  of  Cielo  d' 
Alcamo,  though   an  earlier  example  of  the  whole 

i  Ibid.,  p.  237. 

2  Cf.  the  debat  between  a  knight  and  a  shepherdess,  from  a 
French  pastourelle,  published  in  AltfranzUsische  Romanzen  and 
Pastourellen,  Bartsch,  p.  121:  — 

"When  I  approached  her,  I  said:  'Sister,  if  you  will  love 
me,  honor  thereof  shall  you  have  all  your  life. ' 

"  '  Sir,  mock  me  not!  Well  may  you  find  women  enough  to 
love,  richer  and  better  clad  than  I.' 

' ' '  Fair  one,  in  love  I  care  not  for  lordship ;  good  sense  pleases 
me,  and  beauty,  whereof  you  have  no  lack,  and  sweet  company.' 

'"You  speak  folly,  for  you  shall  have  none  of  it;  for 
another  man  is  betrothed  to  have  my  love.    If  you  do  not  re- 


62  THE   ELIZABETHAN   LYRIC  [chap. 

species  is  the  twenty-seventh  idyl  of  Theocritus. 
In  this  English  imitation,  the  poet  meets  a  shepherd- 
ess, and  offers  to  accompany  her  to  the  meadow ; 
she  refuses  his  society,  and  when  he  makes  his 
intentions  of  love  more  plain,  threatens  to  summon 
her  mother,  who  is  near  by.  Finally  the  poet  is 
convinced  of  the  futility  of  his  suit  and  leaves  her. 
The  first  stanza  points  unmistakably  to  the  origin 
of  the  innocent-sounding  nursery-rime,  "  Where  are 
you  going,  my  pretty  maid  ?  " 

"  A.    Hey  troly  loly  lo  !  maid,  whither  go  you  ? 
B.    I  go  to  the  meadow  to  milk  my  cow. 

A.  Then  at  the  meadow  I  will  you  meet, 

To  gather  ye  flowers  both  fair  and  sweet. 

B.  Nay,  God  forbid,  it  may  not  be  ! 

I  wysse  my  mother  then  shall  us  see,"  etc.1 

The  important  thing  to  be  learned  from  this 
collection  as  a  whole  is  the  way  in  which  song- 
words  are   constructed,  when  they  are  considered 

mount  and  ride  quickly  from  here,  I  shall  be  ill-treated  if 
Perrin  should  spy  us.  And  many  shepherds  would  come  to  his 
aid  if  he  should  call.' 

"'Fair  one,  fear  it  not,  but  hearken  to  me;  you  speak 
great  folly.' 

"  '  Sir,  at  least  I  beg  that  you  have  pity  on  me ;  if  I  remain 
here,  I  shall  be  ill  scoffed  at.' 

"  '  Fair  one,  I  promise  you,  if  you  take  me  for  your  love,  no 
one  will  be  so  bold  as  to  say  to  you  any  insult.  For  the  love  of 
God,  be  my  sweet  friend ! ' 

"'Sir,  speak  no  more  of  it;  for  what  I  saw  in  Limoges  on 
Wednesday,  I  will  not  trust  you.' 

"  '  Shepherdess,  so  be  it !  Fool  am  I  to  plead  with  you  longer. 
No  joy  ever  came  from  long  fiddling,'  etc." 

1  Anglia,  xii.  p.  255. 


in.]  LYRIC   THEMES  63 

not  as  poems  but  as  material  for  musical  setting./ 
This  miscellany,  while  forming  a  natural  link 
between  the  old  and  the  new  literary  themes  of  the 
lyric,  is  of  most  interest  as  representing  an  era  of 
practical  song.  The  pieces,  as  in  some  cases  we 
have  noticed,  turn  always  on  one  situation  as  a 
lyric  stimulus,  have  usually  the  simplest  construc- 
tion, and  do  not  attempt  to  express  all  the  emotion 
in  the  words ;  the  words  are  felt  to  be  incomplete 
without  the  music.  In  three  cases  there  are  no 
words  at  all,  merely  syllables,  such  as  "  Hey,  nony, 
nony,"  on  which  to  vocalize  the  notes.  The  con- 
trast between  this  true  song-lyric  and  the  liter- 
ary lyric  in  the  song-books,  is  striking.  In  this 
miscellany  the  words  and  the  music  are  of  equal 
importance,  and  the  interest  is  divided  between 
them.  In  the  song-books  either  the  songs  are 
poems,  quite  satisfactory  without  the  notes,  or  else 
some  clever  part-writing  in  the  music  makes  the 
singers  satisfied  with  any  words,  and  the  two  arts 
rarely  serve  each  other  equally. 

The  second  manuscript  in  importance,  though  the  ~J\_ 
earliest  in  time,  belongs  probably  to  the  first  decade 
of  the  sixteenth  century,  a  few  years  before  the 
Henry  VIII  collection.1  The  lyrics  in  this  manu- 
script do  not  reflect  the  court  at  all,  but  follow  rather 
the  pop^ku^tajte.  There  is  one  patriotic  song,  in 
honor  of  the  marriage  of  Princess  Margaret  with 
James  IV,  of  Scotland,  in  1503.    These  verses,  though 

i  Ibid.,  p.  258. 


64  THE   ELIZABETHAN   LYRIC  [chap. 

naturally  complimentary,  sound,  no  servile  note, 
nor  do  they  betray  any  taint  of  flattery ;  it  is  the 
general  joy  of  the  public  at  the  union  of  Scotland 
and  England  that  gives  the  theme  importance.1 

i  ^  The  love-plaints  are  fairly  well  represented,  but 

differ  from  those  in  the  first  collection  in  being  more 
elaborate  in  treatment,  with  less  of  the  practical 

i  2>  song-quality.  The  gnomic  verses  appear  in  but  one 
form,  a  bit  of  moralizing  on  the  mutability  of  for- 
tune —  "  The  wheel  of  fortune,  who  can  hold  ?  " 2 
Those  pieces  in  the  first  manuscript  in  winch  sylla- 
bles like  "  Hey,  nony,  nouy  "  were  made  to  do  duty 
for  the  whole  song,  have  their  nearest  parallel  in 
the  second,  in  a  catch,  "Nay  niary,  nay  rnary,  I 
peter,  but  ye  must,"  etc.,3  a  kind  of  song  that  is 
ideal  in  one  sense,  because  it  must  be  executed 
orally  to  be  understood  at  all. 

The  religious  lyrics  appear  in  two  familiar  forms : 
a  penitential  hymn  to  the  Saviour,4  and  a  dialogue 
between  Mary  and  Christ.5  In  this  latter  poem  the 
old  dramatic  dialogue  is  combined  with  the  theme 
of  the  Virgin  singing  a  lullaby  to  her  child.  The 
poet  in  a  dream  overhears  the  slumber-song,  in 
which  Mary,  saddened  as  usual  by  the  poverty  of 
the  Saviour's  birth,  asks  Him  why  He  came  into  the 
world  so  poor.  He  answers  that  if  she  will  wait 
awhile,  she  will  see  the  kings  come  to  worship  Him. 

1  Anglia,  xii.  p.  265. 

2  Ibid. ,  p.  269.  *  jjjd.,  p.  268. 
s  Ibid.,  p.  265.  5  26id.,  p.  270. 


U 


in.]  LYRIC    THEMES  65 

In  this  general  class  of  songs  we  may  perhaps  in- 
clude a  satiric  song  against  a  friar,1  written  with 
Latin  verses  as  refrains  —  an  expression  of  a  popu- 
lar prejudice  familiar  in  narrative  poetry,  such  as 
Chaucer's,  but  not  often  found  in  the  lyric. 

There  is  but  one  spring-song  in  the  collection,  (f^ 
and  that  not  so  English  as  the  versions  of  the  same 
theme  in  the  first  manuscript.  It  follows  Middle 
English  models  in  elaborateness  and  in  the  conven- 
tional setting;  the  poet  tells,  with  some  detail,  how, 
while  he  was  lying  on  a  bank,  half  dreaming,  he 
heard  a  bird  sing  the  approach  of  spring,  and  warn 
all  young  men  that  the  season  of  love  was  at  hand.2 

The  length  and  elaboration  of  such  pieces  as  this 
show  that  here  we  have,  not  a  collection  of  practi- 
cal songs,  but  a_mixture_of  singable  lyrics,  and  of 
liftenis.  that  would  do  as  well  without  music.  Such 
especially  are  the  number  of  epigrammatic  pieces  ( £  ■ 
of  double  meaning,  which  require  for  their  success 
the  hearer's  full  attention  to  the  words.  With 
the  exception  of  the  catch,  most  of  the  songs  are 
interesting  in  themselves,  and  elaborated  for  literary 
effect.  The  collection,  differing  in  this  respect  from 
the  Henry  VIII  manuscript,  is  much  nearer  the 
first  printed  miscellanies ;  and  in  the  spirit  of  its 
themes,  as  we  have  seen,  it  shows  no  influence  of 
the  early  poets,  but  follows  the  traditional  taste 
of  the  people. 

The  third  miscellany3  is  a  small   collection  of 
i  Ifiid.,  p.  268.  2  find.,  p.  264.  3  Ibid.,  p.  587. 

F 


f 


66  THE   ELIZABETHAN  LYRIC  [chap. 

Christmas  carols  published  by  Wynkyn  de  Worde 
in  1521.  These  express,  not  only  the  religious 
sentiment  of  the  season,  but  also  a  certain  court 
atmosphere  of  ceremony  and  elaborate  good  cheer. 
For  example,  there  is  a  hunting-song,  much  more 
highly  wrought  than  those  of  the  first  manuscript, 
and  less  true  to  the  hearty  mood  of  the  sport.1 
Another  carol,  one  of  the  first  songs  on  Christmas 
customs,  is  the  familiar  "  Caput  apri  differo,"  on  the 
bringing  in  of  the  boar's  head.2  Midway  between 
the  song  of  Christmas  customs  and  the  true  reli- 
gious song,  is  the  carol  of  welcome  to  Christmas 
and  farewell  to  the  season  of  Advent.  The  typical 
religious  lyric  is  the  song  on  the  birth  of  Christ, 
after  the  old  model  of  Middle  English  narrative 
themes.3  All  the  songs  in  this  collection  are  art- 
lyrics,  written  with  most  attention  upon  the  words ; 
the  absence  of  the  music  is  not  felt  at  all. 
iV  -  The  fourth  miscellany,  dating  about  1530,  is  in- 
teresting for  the  variety  of  its  subjects.4  Almost 
all  the  themes  in  the  other  collections  are  repre- 
sented here,  though  in  some  cases  the  treatment  is 
new.  The  religious  songs  have  numerous  exam- 
ples, more  than  in  the  other  manuscripts.  Omit- 
ting a  setting  of  the  Lord's  Prayer,  we  have  four 
pieces  of  this  kind ;  a  hymn  of  praise,5  in  alternate 
English  and  Latin  lines,  riming,  two  songs  of  adora- 

1  Anglia,  xii.  p.  587.  4  Ibid.,  p.  589. 

2  Ibid.,  p.  587.  5  Ibid.,  p.  587. 
8  Ibid.,  p.  588. 


in.]  LYRIC   THEMES  67 

tion  addressed  to  the  Virgin,1  and  one  description 
of  Mary  singing  to  the  Child.2  The  love-plaints,  ,-^\ 
also,  appear  in  forms  noticed  before  —  protesta- 
tions of  devotion  and  parting-songs.  Under  this 
general  class  would  come  an  example  of  the  debat, 
or  argument  between  lovers,  somewhat  as  defined  in 
the  pastourelle  of  the  first  manuscript ;  a  lover  pro- 
poses marriage  to  his  lady,  who,  after  long  argu- 
ment, accepts  him.3  Since  the  pleasure  of  such  a 
poem  is  intellectual  rather  than  emotional,  and  can 
be  got  most  easily  from  the  unaccompanied  words, 
the  musical  setting  is,  of  course,  unimportant. 
The  spring-son^  is  represented  by  a  piece  in  praise 
of  the  singing  of  birds  —  rather  a  perfunctory  per- 
formance, without  any  individual  note.4  The  patri- 
otic poem  has  for  illustration  one  extraordinary 
song  of  royal  flattery,  in  which  the  poet,  reclining 
upon  a  bank,  hears  the  birds  summon  England  to 
awake  and  thank  God  for  their  noble  king,  the 
Defender  of  the  Faith,  etc.5 

The  fifth  manuscript  belongs  to  the  same  time,  \ 

although  much  of  its  contents  was  probably  com- 
posed in  the  last  years  of  the  fifteenth  century.6 
The  scribe,  Richard  Hill,  luckily  recorded  the 
birthdays  of  his  family  on  a  spare  leaf  of  the 
manuscript;  since  the  youngest  child  registered 
was  born  in  1526,  the  copy  was  certainly  made  later. 

i  Ibid.,  p.  591.  s  iud.,  p.  506.  *>  Ibid.,  p.  597. 

2  Ibid.,  p.  590.  4  Ibid.,  p.  595. 

6  Anglia,  xxvi.  p.  94,  Ewald  Fliigel. 


68  THE    ELIZABETHAN   LYRIC  [chap. 

The  collection  contains  much  narrative  verse  and 
miscellaneous  prose.  The  lyrics,  however,  may  be 
divided  into  three  classes — moral  or  philosophic, 
religious,  and  humorous.  The  philosophical  lyric 
deals  chiefly  with  such  themes  as  the  fickleness  of 
fortune.  An  interesting  illustration  is  the  poem  in 
French,  perhaps  part  of  a  ballade,  on  the  old  motive 
ubi  sunt,  familiar  to  us  in  Villon's  Ballade  of  Dead 
Ladies :  — 

"  Fortune,  ou  est  David,  et  Salomon, 
Mathusale,  Josue,  Machabee, 
Olofernes,  Alexandre,  et  Sampson, 
Tulles  Cesar,  Hector,  Ausy  Pompee, 
Ou  est  Ulyxes,  et  sa  grant  renommee, 
Artur  le  roy,  Godefroy,  Chaiiemaine, 
Daries  le  grant,  Hercules,  Tholomee  ? 
Us  sont  tons  mors,  le  monde  est  chose  vaine."  l 

It  is  evident  at  once  from  this  quotation  that 
here  we  have  the  literary  lyric  without  any  sug- 
gestion of  musical  accompaniment.  This  is  true  of 
all  the  poems  on  philosophical  subjects. 

Some  of  the  religious  lyrics  also  have  no  need  of 
musical  setting.  There  are  the  usual  addresses  to 
the  Virgin  and  penitential  hymns  to  Christ.  A 
new  theme  is  introduced  with  the  prayers  to  the 
guardian  angel  —  a  religious  conception  which  had 
become  familiar  in  the  Moralities,  and  which  later 
furnishes  a  striking  image  to  the  sonneteers :  — 

"  O  Angell  dere  wher  ever  I  goo 
Me  that  am  comytted  to  thyne  awarde, 

1  Anglia,  p.  142. 


in.]  LYRIC   THEMES  69 

Save,  defende  and  govern  also, 

That  in  hewyn  with  thee  be  my  rewarde! 

O  thou  cumly  Angell,  so  gude  and  clere, 
Yat  ever  art  abydyng  with  me, 
Though  I  may  nother  the  se  nor  here, 
Yet  devoutely  with  trust  I  pray  to  the  ! "  x 

The  cvaclle-song  of  the  Saviour  appears  in  several 
versions,  but  a  newer  handling  of  the  Christmas 
story  is  represented  by  two  accounts  of  the  shep- 
herds abiding  in  the  field.-  In  both  lyrics  the 
treatment  is  pastoral  and  realistic ;  the  shepherds' 
duties  and  occupations  are  described  at  the  moment 
when  the  angels  appear. 

One  combination  of  Latin  and  English  words 
gives  a  hint  as  to  the  origin  of  the  inverted  echo- 
songs  of  the  printed  miscellanies.  In  this  example, 
the  Latin  words  begin  each  line  and  are  necessary 
to  the  meter  and  to  the  sense ;  but,  read  by  them- 
selves, they  form  a  kind  of  acrostic  sentence :  — 

"  Salve  with  abeysance  to  God  in  humblesse 
Regina  to  regne  ever  more  in  blysse, 
Mater  to  Cryst  as  we  believe  expresse, 
Misericordie  unto  all  wretchesse,"  etc.3 

The  majority  of  the  religious  songs  are  Christmas 
carols.  They  are  apparently  intended  to  be  sung. 
At  all  events  they  have  such  external  marks  of  lyric 
poetry  as  refrains,  short  lines,  graceful  stanzas. 
The  best  known  carol  in  the  manuscript  is  probably 
the  Song  of  the  Rose :  — 

i  Ibid.,  p.  157.  2  Ibid.,  p.  237.  8  Ibid.,  p.  172. 


70  THE   ELIZABETHAN  LYRIC  [chap. 

"  Of  a  rose,  a  lovely  rose, 
And  of  a  rose  I  sing  a  song  ! 
Herkyn  to  me  both  olde  and  yonge, 
How  a  rose  began  to  sprynge, 
A  fayerer  rose  to  my  lykyng 

Sprong  ther  never  in  Kynges  lande."1 

There  are  two  hunting-songs,  very  nearly  alike, 
both  describing  the  killing  of  the  stag.2  The  at- 
mosphere of  the  sport,  such  as  was  noticed  in  the 
Henry  VIII  manuscript,  is  here  lacking.  Rather 
more  realistic  is  the  drinking-song,  one  of  the  earli- 
est examples  in  the  miscellanies  :  — 

"  Jentyll  butler,  bellamy, 
ffyl  ye  boll  by  ye  eye  ! 
Yat  we  may  drynk  by  and  by 
with  ;  how  butler  how 
Bevis  a  towt 
ffill  ye  boll  butler  and  let  ye  cup  rowght !  "  3 

One  final  quotation  illustrates  an  early  song  of 
Christmas  customs  —  a  kind  of  lyric  that  persists 
throughout  the  Elizabethan  period,  even  to  Her  rick's 
time  :  — 

"  Lett  no  man  cum  in  to  this  hall, 
Grome,  page,  nor  yet  marshall, 
But  yat  sum  sport  he  bryng  with  all ! 
for  now  ys  the  tyme  of  Crystmas ! 

Yff  that  he  say,  he  can  not  syng 
Sum  oder  sport  then  lett  hym  bryng  ! 
Yat  yt  may  please  at  thys  festyng  ! 
for  now  ys  the  tyme  of  Crystmas ! 

i  Anglia,  p.  232.  2  Ibid.,  p.  194.  3  Ibid.,  p.  282. 


T 


in.]  LYRIC   THEMES  71 

Yff  he  say  he  can  nowht  do, 

Then  for  my  love  aske  hyin  no  mo  ! 

But  to  the  stokkes  then  lett  hym  go  ! 

for  now  ys  the  tyme  of  Crystmas  ! "  * 

II 

The    greatest    of   the   printed    miscellanies   is 
Totters,  published  in  1557.2     Besides  the  poems  of 
Wyatt  and  Surrey,  which  give  the  book  its  impor- 
tance, it  contains  lyrics  by  Grimald,   Lord  Vaux, 
and  others.     Though  from  the  courtesy  due  to  his 
rank,  Surrey's  name  is  on  the  title-page  and  his 
poems  come  first,  the  important  contributor,  from       ^ 
the  standpoint  of   lyric  poetry,  was    Sir   Thomas  v 
Wyatt.      The   selections    from    Surrey   are   better     \     (»j(  p    \ 
poetry,  perhaps,  but  not  nearly  so  lyrical. 

The  pervading  theme  of  Wyatt's  songs,  as  of  the 
entire  miscellany,  is  love.  In  the  treatment  of  this 
motive,  under  Petrarchan  influence,  he  shows  a 
refinement  upon  the  methods  of  the  conventional 
love-plaint,  thereby  becoming  the  earliest  singer  of 
the  Elizabethan  subjective  lyric.  When  the  old 
lyric  situations  reappear,  the  expression  is  more 
imaginative,  more  individual  in  detail,  and  more 
psychological  in  its  picture  of  the  lover's  state  of 
mind,  as  in  the  song  of  the  deserted  lover.3  In  this 
following  example,  the  recurrence  of  the  memory 

i  Ibid.,  p.  241. 

2  Songes  and  Sonettes,  written  by  the  ryght  honorable  Lorcle 
Henry  Haioard  late  Earle  of  Surrey,  and  other.  Apud  Richardum 
Tottel,  1557.    Arber's  Reprint,  1897. 

3  Ibid., -p.  40. 


I  ^ 


s 


72  THE   ELIZABETHAN   LYRIC  [chat. 

to  a  vivid  picture  of  former  bliss,  gives  more 
point  to  the  lover's  grief  than  any  number  of 
exclamations :  — 

"Thanked  be  fortune,  it  hath  bene  otherwise 
Twenty  times  better  :  but  once  especiall, 
In  thinne  array,  after  a  pleasant  gyse, 
When  her  loose  gowne  did  from  her  shoulders  fall, 
And  she  me  caught  in  her  arms  long  and  small, 
And  therwithall,  so  swetely  did  me  kysse, 
And  softly  sayd  ;  deare  heart,  how  like  you  this  ?  " 

With  such  a  number  of  love-lyrics  grouped  to- 
gether, as  here  in  the  case  of  Wyatt's  poems, 
it  is  inevitable  that  the  reader  should  feel  to  some 
extent  a  common  personality  in  them  all;  or  at 
least,  the  lover  becomes  typical.  This  is  only  a 
small  step  towards  the  sonnet-series,  with  their 
more  or  less  individual  heroes,  but  it  is  a  sure  one. 
The  tendency  appears  elsewhere  in  the  handling  of 
dramatic  motives,  themes  arising  from  situations 
clearly  not  in  the  poet's  experience,  but  treated 
experimentally.1  This  impersonal  interest  in  love, 
and  the  expression  of  it  for  its  own  sake,  shows 
itself  also  in  the  elaborate  similes  of  such  pieces 
as  the  Lover  compareth  his  state  to  a  sliippe  in 
perilous  storme  tossed  on  the  sea,2  or  the  Compari- 
son of  love  to  a  streame  falling  from  the  Alpes;3  the 
image  in  such  cases  being  studied  merely  as  an 
artistic  means  of  expression.  An  entirely  new 
note  is  sounded  in  the  Description  of  such  a  one  as 

1  See  The  lover  excuseth  himself,  Songes  and  Sonettes,  p.  66. 
*  Ibid.,  p.  39.  3  Ibid.,  p.  46. 


in.]  LYRIC   THEMES  73 

he  ivould  love;1  not  before  in  the  English  lyric 
had  a  poet  contemplated  the  great  passion  so 
objectively  as  to  theorize  in  advance  about  his 
mistress. 

But  the  development  of  the  subjective  lyric,  as 
it  appears  in  the  later  sonnet-series,  called  for  more 
dramatic  minds  than  Wyatt's.  Though  well  in  line 
with  the  new  mode  of  thought,  as  has  been  indicated, 
he  was  naturally  a  lyrist,  a  maker  of  songs.  This 
native  gift  combined  happily  with  his  foreign  cul- 
ture to  produce  his  most  typical  work,  the  art- 
lyrics —  songs  meant  to  be  enjoyed  without  music,  f 
as  opposed  to  the  practical  song.  Externally  these 
poems  follow  the  old  French  tradition  as  seen  in 
the  songs  of  Edward  I's  reign ;  they  are  built  on 
light-moving  stanzas,  simpler  of  course  than  the 
Middle  English  riming-schemes,  and  they  make 
effective  use  of  refrains.  In  the  treatment  of  their 
subjects,  however,  they  are  analytical,  philosophical, 
and  generally  too  closely  thought  out,  to  be  good 
songs.2  Some  of  the  shorter  pieces  in  this  class, 
while  losing  nothing  of  their  lyric  quality,  tend 
to  become  epigrammatic.  This  tendency  later 
becomes  largely  characteristic  of  the  Elizabethan 
song,  and  may  be  explained  then,  as  here  now  in 
Wyatt,  by  the  presence  of  an  intellectual  element, 
demanding  concise  expression. 

Several  of  Wyatt's  poems  recall  themes  already 

1  Ibid.,  p.  68. 

2  See  The  Lover  taught,  mistrusteth  allurements,  ibid.,  p.  42. 


s 


71  THE   ELIZABETHAN   LYRIC  [chap. 

familiar,  but  with  a  typical  change  of  treatment. 
The  dialogue  between  two  lovers 1  is  nothing  more 
than  the  old  formula  of  the  debat,  but  its  lineage 
is  concealed  by  presenting  the  characters,  not  as 
shepherd  and  shepherdess,  but  as  courtier  and  lady. 
The  subject,  too,  is  almost  concealed  by  a  double 
refinement  of  thought  and  phrase  ;  what  was  origi- 
nally nothing  more  delicate  than  the  plain-spoken 
importunities  of  the  rustic  to  his  mistress,  is  here 
made  into  a  series  of  pretty  compliments  and 
retorts,  with  the  emotional  pitch  of  polite  conver- 
sation. 

Wyatt's  one  reference  to  his  country  is  short, 
but  fine  in  feeling,  in  the  lines  on  his  return  from 
Spain.2  The  poem  has  a  threefold  interest:  as  a 
personal  lyric,  as  an  expression  of  patriotism,  and 
as  a  note  of  Elizabethan  experience.  The  enthu- 
siasm of  the  poet's  home-coming  is  unmistakably 
felt,  and  gives  a  charm  to  the  verses  they  might 
not  otherwise  have  had.  The  reference  to  the 
king  and  the  country,  in  the  same  phrase,  betrays 
a  higher  type  of  courtier  than  has  appeared  in 
earlier  verses  of  this  kind ;  there  is  here  no  at- 
tempt to  flatter  the  sovereign  by  exalting  him 
above  his  realm,  but  loyalty  to  the  throne  is  ac- 
cepted as  a  result  of  love  of  country. 

Wyatt's  influence  on  the  lyric  is  of  two  kinds. 
As  asubjective  lyrist,  he  brought  into  England  the 
Petrarcha^i  sonnetT'aiid,  in  its  final  form,  the  Petrar- 
1  Songes  and  Sonettes,  p.  79.  2  Ibid.,  p.  84. 


in.]  LYRIC   THEMES  75 

clian  subject-matter;  Chaucer  had  used  the  latter 
for  lyric  purposes,  but  he  was  untouched  by  its 
introspective  mood.  Wyatt's  handling  of  it  was 
intellectual  and  wise  rather  than  spontaneous ; 
when  it  appears  in  his  sonnets,  it  has  forceful  ex- 
pression but  lacks  the  quality  of  song.  In  the 
lighter  verse-forms,  more  in  accord  with  the 
French  genius,  he  achieves  many  successful  exam- 
ples of  the  art-lyric,  the  song  not  meant  for  music ; 
here,  while  dealing  with  subjects  as  subtle  as 
those  of  his  sonnets,  he  preserves  the  song-quality 
in  the  words.  In  this  success  he  anticipates  the 
highly  wrought  lyrics  of  Sidney, 
i  Surrey  is  generally  reckoned  the  follower  of 
Wyatt  in  his  art,  as  he  is  in  time,  but  he  had  only 
one  side  of  his  master's  gifts ;  he  was  a  lyrist  only 
in  the  sense  of  being  a  poet  of  subjective  expres- 
sion, and  he  lacked  almost  entirely  the  song- 
quality  of  words.  Of  the  relation  of  real  music 
to  speech,  or  of  their  combination  in  practical 
song,  he  is,  like  Wyatt,  quite  unconscious.  His 
conception  of  lyric  character  is  dramatic  rather 
than  personal ;  even  when  he  has  most  the  man- 
ner of  self-revelation,  like  the  Elizabethan  sonnet- 
eers, he  is  likely  to  disclose  an  imagined  experience 
not  his  own.  The  numerous  poems  called  "  de- 
scriptions," such  as  the  Description  of  the  restlesse 
state  of  a  lover,1  represent  this  kind  of  dramatic 
revelation.  In  such  a  lyric  Surrey  is  sure  to  im- 
i  Ibid.,  p.  5. 


76  THE   ELIZABETHAN   LYRIC  [chap. 

agine  a  particular  personality  to  fit  each  situation, 
so  that  though  the  lover,  as  in  Wyatt,  is  typical 
throughout  the  series,  the  type,  nevertheless,  con- 
stantly varies.  These  facts  of  Surrey's  method 
are  important  as  tending  to  discredit  the  genuine- 
ness of  the  love-stories  in  most  of  the  sonnet- 
series,  beginning  with  Surrey  himself  and  the 
Geraldine  myth.1 
*  His  sonnets,  as  a  whole,  have  greater  lyric 
o  effect,  more  song-quality  than  Wyatt's,  but  the  rea- 

son is  largely  external.  Instead  of  the  Petrarchan 
stanza,  he  used,  in  the  main,  the  quatrain  com- 
bination later  made  famous  by  Shakspere.  At 
other  times  he  used  systems  of  fourteen  lines, 
hardly  to  be  called  sonnets.  The  lightness  of 
these  forms,  joined  with  the  fact  that  Surrey  had 
probably  a  much  finer  feeling  for  English  verse 
than  Wyatt,  will  explain  a  lyric  superiority  that 
seems  at  first  sight  greater  than  it  really  is.  The 
sonnets  divide  themselves,  by  the  external  effect, 
into  three  kinds  —  dramatic,  lyrical,  and  bio- 
graphic. Of  the  lyrical  quality  in  Surrey's  sonnets 
enough  has  been  said,  and  it  should  be  remembered 
that  the  criticism  is  not  considered  absolute,  but 
is  meant  to  show  the  effect  of  a  comparison  with 
Wyatt.  The  dramatic  sonnets  belong  to  that  class 
of  imaginative  lyrics  already  described,  wherein  the 
poet  speaks  in  a  supposed  character  or  situation. 

1  For  the  Geraldine  story,  see  Henry  Morley's  English  Writers, 
viii.  p.  27. 


in.]  LYRIC   THEMES  77 

A  good  example  is  the  Complaint  that  his  ladie,  after 
she  knew  of  his  love  kept  her  face  alway  hidden 
from  him.1  It  is  apparent  in  these  verses  that  Sur- 
rey has  attained  at  once  that  appearance  of  sincerity 
in  an  improbable  situation,  which  is  the  model  of 
the  sonnet-makers.  The  most  interesting  sonnets, 
however,  are  those  which  adopt  the  autobiographi- 
cal manner,  as  the  lines  to  Geraldine.2  With  these 
may  be  classed  the  autobiographical  lyrics,  not 
sonnets,  such  as  the  poem  on  Windsor.3  It  is 
not  too  much  to  say  that  this  class  of  lyrics 
accounts  for  Surrey's  immediate  fame  and  the 
preference  for  his  work  over  Wyatt's ;  for  there  is 
more  of  a  direct  personality  in  them,  whether  the 
facts  of  experience  are  true  or  imagined,  than  in 
any  lyrist  before  Sidney,  and  the  themes  andl 
details  of  each  piece  are  more  native  to  England, 
more  real  in  appearance,  than  any  of  Wyatt's. 

Surrey  repeats  the  familiar  variations  of  the 
love-plaint,  but  refines  them,  as  Wyatt  had  done. 
Some  of  his  new  motives  are  interesting,  as  when 
he  brings  back  the  conception  of  the  god  of  love 
as  a  concrete  personality,4  which  had  practically 
been  absent  from  the  lyric  since  Chaucer.  The 
ideals  of  chivalric  love  appear  in  refined  and  even 
exaggerated  form,  as  when  he  swears  eternal,  though 
unrequited,  service  to  his  lady,5  or  professes  to  find 
comfort  enough  in  the  contemplation  of  the  lady's 

1  Songes  and  Sonettes,  p.  12.     3  Ibid.,  p.  13.    6  Ibid.,  p.  11. 

2  Ibid.,  p.  9.  4  ma.,  p.  7. 


78  THE    ELIZABETH  AX   LYRIC  [chap. 

worth,  without  any  nearer  enjoyment  of  her  beauty.1 
Some  of  the  lyric  situations  reflect  the  new  fashion 
of  travel  among  English  gentlemen,  as  in  the  two 
laments  of  ladies  for  the  absence  of  their  lovers 
over  seas.2 

Surrey's  nearest  approach  to  the  practical  song 
is  the  art-lyric,  where,  in  the  few  examples  he 
attempts,  he  falls  below  Wyatt.  He  seems  to  have 
no  sense  for  the  externals  of  l}Tric  effect,  never  even 
•attempting  the  refrain,  which  Wyatt  had  constantly 
employed  to  advantage.  The  subject-matter  of  these 
art-songs,  like  Wyatt'"  s,  is  subtle  and  finely  wrought; 
the  words  demand  close  attention  in  order  to  be 
understood. 

The  number  of  gnomic  or  moral  poems  in  Sur- 
rey is  rather  large.  The  old  proverbial  manner  of 
such  themes,  however,  he  changed  to  the  tone  of 
philosophy,  and  he  gives  out  his  wisdom  as  the 
result  of  personal  reflection.  A  typical  subject  is 
the  Mean  and  sure  estate,3  which  he  treats  more 
than  once,  perhaps  because  Wyatt  had  made  several 
versions  of  it.  The  popularity  of  the  theme  is 
shown  by  its  constant  appearance  in  the  anonymous 
verses,  of  later  date,  included  in  the  miscellany. 

An  interesting  corner  of  Surrey's  work  is  made 
up  of  literary  tributes,  like  the  verses  addressed  to 
Martial,4  and  those  on  Wyatt's  death.5  The  refer- 
ence to  other  authors  is  old  in  English  literature, 

1  Songes  and  Sonettes,  p.  14.     3  Ibid.,  p.  27.     5  Ibid.,  pp.  2.S.  29. 

2  Ibid.,  pp.  15,  19.  4  Ibid.,  p.  27. 


(^ 


in.]  LYRIC   THEMES  79 

but  rare  in  the  lyric,  and  here  the  manner  is  new ; 
it  is  the  first  evidence  of  the  intimate  literary  life 
that  the  Elizabethan  poets  were  to  lead.  With 
those  poets  Surrey's  genius  was  in  full  accord ;  he 
gave  the  weight  of  his  art  to  that  side  of  Wyatt's 
writing  that  was  most  subjective  and  introspective, 
and,  in  the  musical  sense  of  the  word,  least  lyrical. 
Thus  he  is  nearer  to  the  sonnet-series  than  to  thei 
song-books,  and,  standing  between  Wyatt  and  the 
later  makers  of  art-lyrics,  he  serves  to  obscure  that 
side  of  the  older  poet's  genius. 

Grimakl  is  a  much  less  ambitious  figure  than 
these  two  lyrists,  but  his  pieces  in  TotteVs  Mis- 
cellany have  their  own  interest.  He  stands  for  the 
type  of  minor  poet,  who,  though  hidden  by  the 
larger  names,  is  present  throughout  the  period,  and 
emerges  fully  developed  in  Marvell.  The  love- 
poem  in  his  art  takes  the  form  of  complimentary 
addresses  to  ladies  of  his  acquaintance,  whom  he 
signifies  by  their  initials,  as,  To  Maistress  D.  A.,1  or 
A  Neew  Yeres  gift,  to  the  L.  M.  S.2  Sentiment  takes 
the  place  of  passion  in  these  verses,  except  in 
some  unfortunate  examples  where  even  sentiment 
is  omitted.  A  number  of  poems  called  Epitaphs 
show  the  same  weakness  of  inspiration  ;  with  the 
exception  of  the  notable  lines  to  his  mother,3  they 
are  but  perfunctory  moralizings.  The  gnomic  tone 
of  these  funeral  pieces  is  seen  to  more  advantage  in 
such  poems  as  Mirth*  in  which  the  lighter  subject 

i  Ibid.,  p.  104.     *  Ibid.,  p.  105.     3  Ibid.,  p.  115.     4  Ibid.,  p.  103. 


80  THE   ELIZABETHAN  LYRIC  [chap. 

makes  the  unpretentious  manner  acceptable;  and 
it  takes  on  a  new  form  in  the  Description  of  Vertue,1 
in  which  the  gnomic  ideas  are  advanced  through  a 
dialogue,  by  short  questions  and  answers.  Since 
the  method  becomes  a  favorite  with  the  later  poets, 
it  may  be  well  to  quote  this  example :  — 

"  What  one  art  thou,  thus  in  torn  weed  yclad  ? 
Vertue,  in  price  whom  auncient  sages  had. 
Why,  poorely  rayd  ?     For  fadying  goodes  past  care. 
Why  doublefaced  ?     I  marke  eche  fortunes  fare. 
This  bridle,  what  ?     Mindes  rages  to  restrain. 
Tooles  why  beare  you  :  I  love  to  take  great  pain. 
Why,  wings  ?     I  reach  above  the  starres  to  flye, 
Why  tread  you  death  ?     I  onely  cannot  dye." 

Grimald  seems  to  be  in  the  line  of  the  minor 
poets  like  Marvell,  by  virtue  of  a  few  verses  that 
show  a  thoughtful,  gentle  personality  through  the 
far  from  lofty  expression.  This  example,  together 
with  the  lines  to  his  mother,  and  those  called  the 
Garden,2  illustrate  the  point. 
f  (JL  ^  The  anonymous  lyrics  in  TotteVs  Miscellany  are 
easily  classed  under  the  types  already  considered. 
Most  of  them  are  love-plaints,  in  the  familiar  man- 
ner, or  moral  observations  akin  to  the  gnomic  poem. 
Perhaps  the  most  noteworthy  selection  is  that  in 
which  The  lover  telleth  of  his  divers  joyes  and  advers- 
ities in  love  and  lastly  of  his  ladies  death*  —  a  lyrical 
ballad  like  the  Ancient  Mariner,  built  up  of  lyric 
units  and  welded  together  by  a  single  spirit.  The 
swiftness  and  sureness  of  these  verses  raise  them  far 
i  Songes  and  Sonettes,  p.  108.      "  Ibid.,  p.  111.       3  Ibid.,  p.  144. 


hi.]  LYRIC   THEMES  81 

above  their  companion  pieces.  The  popularity  of 
Chaucer's  lyrics,  as  well  as  of  his  narrative  poems,  is 
shown  by  the  inclusion  of  one  of  hi*  ballades,  Flee 
from  the  prese  and  dwell  with  sothfastnes.1  The 
religious  lyric  is  represented  by  one  penitential 
hymn,2  and  the  satiric  poem  against  women  survives 
in  two  very  ungallant  but  vigorous  songs.  The  new 
literary  culture  finds  natural  expression  in  a  sonnet, 
full  of  true  feeling,  in  "praise  of  Petrarke,  and  of 
Laura  his  ladie " ; 3  and  lastly,  two  lyrics,  on  the 
model  of  the  holly  song  in  the  Henry  VIII  manu- 
script, continue  the  tradition  of  this  simple  love- 
song,  expressed  in  images  of  English  flowers.4 

The  second  miscellany,  the  Paradise  of  Dainty  -Jf 

Devices,  1576,5  shows  at  once  a  falling  off  in  lyric 
composition  and  a  decline  in  taste.  The  lyrics 
in  this  collection  are  of  little  positive  merit,  but 
serve  as  an  index  of  the  popular  themes.  The 
majority  of  these  themes  are  moral  or  gnomic  — 
the  shortness  of  life,  the  vanity  of  human  joy,  the 
sin  and  folly  of  youth,  the  fickleness  of  fortune,  the 
value  of  faithful  and  the  danger  of  treacherous 
friends.  The  "  preaching  "  tone  never  flags,  and  evi- 
dently is  becoming  monotonous  to  the  poets  them- 
selves, for  in  two  cases  it  is  enlivened  by  an 
ingenious  trick-stanza.  This  is  a  kind  of  inverted 
echo-song,  like  that  in  the  fifth  manuscript  miscel- 
lany ;  instead  of  the  last  words  of  each  line  form- 

1  Ibid.,  p.  194.  3  iud.,  p.  178.  6  Collier's  Reprint. 

2  Ibid.,  p.  142.  <  Ibid.,  pp.  187, 199. 

G 


82  THE   ELIZABETHAN   LYRIC  [chap. 

ing  a  sentence  by  themselves,  the  first  words  are 
used  for  that  purpose,  as :  — 

"  Bcholdc  the  blast  which  blows  the  blossomes  from  the  tree, 
The  end  whereof,  consumes  and  comes  to  nought  we  see  ; 
Ere  thou  therefore,  be  blowen  from  life  that  may  not  last, 
Begin  for  grace  to  call,  for  time  mispent  and  past." 

In  the  remaining  three  stanzas,  the  first  words  of 
each  line  complete  this  embedded  moral :  — 

"Have  mind,  on  death,  and  fear,  to  sin, 
For  death,  shall  reape,  that  lyfe,  hath  sowen, 
And  lyfe,  shall  spring,  where  death,  hath  mowen."1 

The  religious  lyric  is  represented  by  a  few  peniten- 
tial poems,  but  chiefly  by  three  hymns  for  Christ- 
mas-day, Easter,  and  Whitsunday.2  They  differ 
from  previous  examples  in  that  they  express  the 
sentiment  not  of  an  individual,  nor  of  Christians  as 
a  whole,  but  of  the  Church.  Not  only  in  the  names 
of  the  feast-days,  but  more  especially  in  the  orderly 
quality  of  the  emotion,  the  sense  of  ritual,  they  ex- 
press a  religious  feeling  derived  indirectly  through 
an  ecclesiastical  system.  In  this  respect  they  might 
compare  with  the  early  religious  songs  much  as 
Herbert's  do  with  Milton's  ode  on  the  nativity. 

The  love-plaint  has  rather  few  examples.  One 
poem,  however,  should  be  mentioned  for  employing 
the  method  of  question  and  answer,  as  in  Grimald's 
description  of  Virtue :  — 

' '  I  sigh,  why  so  ?  for  sorrow  of  her  smart. 
I  morne,  wherfore  ?  for  grief  that  she  complains,"  etc.3 

i  Collier's  Reprint,  p.  2.         *  Ibid.,  p.  18.        3  Ibid.,  p.  44. 


in.]  LYRIC   THEMES  83 

In  this  class  of  lyric,  though  not  of  the  same 
poetic  mood,  is  a  debat  between  a  lover  and  his  lady. 
The  interest  of  this  poem  has  shifted  from  the  sub- 
ject, the  wooing,  to  the  ingenious  rime-scheme  which 
the  dialogue  takes.  How  far  afield  the  poet  goes 
for  his  technical  devices,  can  be  shown  only  by  a 
quotation :  — 

"  A.  Shall  I  no  way  win  you,  to  grant  my  desire  ? 

B.  What  woman  will  grant  you  the  thing  you  require  ? 

A.  You  only  to  love  me  is  all  that  I  crave. 

B.  You  only  to  leave  me  is  all  I  would  have. 

A.  My  dear,  alas,  now  say  not  so, 

B.  To  love  you  best,  I  must  say  no : 

A.  Yet  will  I  not  flitt. 

B.  Then  play  on  the  bitt. 

A.  I  will. 

B.  Do  still. 

A.  Yet  kill  not  — 

B.  I  will  not. 

A.  Make  me  your  man, 

B.  Beshrewe  me  than,"  etc.1 

Among  the  other  single  poems  that  call  for 
mention,  there  is  a  May-song,  containing  the  con- 
ventional praise  of  that  poets'  month,  and  also  a 
lyric  in  praise  of  music,  the  first  treatment  of  that 
theme  in  the  miscellanies.  The  song  on  the  refrain 
"  The  falling  out  of  faithful  friends  renewing  is  of 
love," 2  is  on  the  whole  the  type  of  lyric  that  this 

1  Ibid.,  p.  73. 

2  This  is  the  work  of  Richard  Edwards  (1523?-1566),  a  popu- 
lar musician  and  poet.  He  was  educated  at  Oxford,  and  studied 
music  under  George  Ether idge.  In  1561  he  was  appointed 
Master  of  the  Children  of  the  Chapel.    He  wrote  two  plays: 


84  THE   ELIZABETHAN    LYRIC  [chap. 

collection  stands  for ;  the  ideas  are  shaped  into 
proverbs  and  are  not  very  new ;  there  is  a  certain 
amount  of  literary  form  without  any  literary  in- 
spiration, and  the  whole  has  an  effective  "  swing," 
which  may  be  called  lyrical  in  one  sense,  but  which 
has  no  connection  with  music  or  real  song. 

This  miscellany  introduces  the  work  of  one  or 
two  minor  poets,  whose  names  are  remembered, 
though  their  poems  here  printed  are  forgotten. 
Probably  the  best  of  these,  very  famous  as  a  poet 
in  his  own  day,  but  memorable  now  as  the  friend  of 
Sidney,  is  Sir  Edward  Dyer.  The  poem  with  which 
his  name  is  most  easily  associated,  "  My  mind  to 
me  a  kingdom  is,"  was  later  set  to  music  in  the 
song-books.  Edward  de  Vere,  Earl  of  Oxford, 
should  also  be  mentioned  here,  though  his  work 
requires  little  more  than  mention.  His  mood  and 
manner  are  exhibited  in  the  lines,  "  The  trickling 
tears  that  f alles  along  my  cheekes."  *  As  in  Dyer's 
case,  his  best  lyric,  "  If  women  could  be  fayre  and 
yet  not  fonde,"  appeared  with  a  musical  setting  in 
the  song-books. 2 
|f\  The  third  miscellany,  A  Gorgeous  Gallery  of 
Gallant  Inventions,5  1578,  is  of   the  same  general 

Palamon  and  Arcite,  1566,   which   is  lost,  and  Damon  and 
Pithias,  1571,  which  is  printed  in  Dodsley's  Old  Plays. 
i  Ibid.,  p.  114. 

2  The  remains  of  both  these  poets,  as  well  as  those  of  Robert, 
Earl  of  Essex,  and  Walter,  Earl  of  Essex,  are  reprinted  in  the 
Fuller  Worthies  Library,  iv. 

3  Collier's  Reprint. 


in.]  LYRIC   THEMES  85 

rank  as  the  preceding  collection.  The  love-plaints 
are  represented  in  their  full  variety  of  theme  and 
monotony  of  rhythm;  the  "poulter's  measure," 
alternate  alexandrines  and  septenaries,  serves  for 
them  all.  A  number  of  them,  however,  acquire 
a  certain  distinction  from  being  cast  in  the  form 
of  epistles  from  one  lover  to  the  other;  perhaps 
the  popularity  of  Ovid's  epistle  from  Penelope  to 
Ulysses,  attested  by  many  paraphrases  in  Tottel's 
and  elsewhere,  may  account  for  this  form.  One  of 
these  letters,  in  particular,  A  letter  written  by  a 
yonge  gentilwoman  and  sent  to  her  husband  unawares 
(by  a  friend)  into  Italy, 1  is  another  glimpse  in  lyric 
poetry  of  the  new  fashion  of  travel. 

The  great  length  of  the  titles  in  all  these  ex- 
amples may  be  perhaps  laid  at  the  door  of  Euphu- 
ism. Another  explanation  would  be  that  most  of 
the  popular  lyric  poetry  at  this  time  has  a  narra- 
tive background ;  in  many  cases  the  poet  tells  how, 
under  certain  circumstances,  he  heard  some  one 
sing  such  and  such  songs.  When,  in  process  of 
literary  evolution,  the  species  become  distinct,  the 
function  of  the  narrative,  in  these  popular  lyrics,  is 
assumed  by  the  title,  which  becomes  a  necessary 
introduction  to  the  song  proper.  In  some  cases 
the  lyric  situation  described  by  the  title  becomes 
the  stimulus  of  the  lyric  emotion,  so  that  the  unity 
of  the  poem  begins  with  the  title,  as  :  The  lamentable 
lover,  abiding  in  the  bitter  bale  of  direful  doubts 
i  Ibid.,  p.  92. 


86  THE   ELIZABETHAN   LYRIC  [chap. 

towards  his  ladies  loyalty,  writeih  unto  her  as  fol- 
loweth. 1 

Among  the  familiar  themes  in  the  collection  are 
two  lyrics  to  women,  who  are  designated,  after 
Grimald's  example  in  TotteVs  Miscellany?  by  their 
initials.  It  is  interesting  to  reflect  whether  this 
convention,  like  the  disguise  of  the  sonnet-series,  is 
practised  in  England  through  courtesy  to  the  ladies, 
or  whether  it  is  a  survival  from  the  earliest  Proven- 
cal love-song,  which,  being  largely  devoted  to  illicit 
love,  took  the  disguise  as  a  safeguard.3 

These  lyrics  in  this  collection  are  evidently  in- 
tended to  be  sung,  since  the  name  of  the  tune  is 
given  to  which  each  may  be  set.4  The  growing 
popularity  of  music,  as  evidenced  in  lyric  poetry  by 
the  verses  in  praise  of  it,  and  by  the  manuscript 
song-miscellanies,  here  makes  its  impression  upon 
the  literary  collections.  But  it  should  be  remem- 
bered that  these  are  popular  ballads  and  popular 
airs,  not  the  art-lyrics  of  the  madrigal  books,  nor 
the  polyphonic  music  to  which  they  were  set. 
Il*-  The  fourth  miscellany,  A  Handful  of  Pleasant 
Delights,  1584,5  is  as  destitute  of  literary  art  as  the 
manuscript  collections  of  Henry  VIII.      The  sole 

i  Collier's  Reprint,  p.  9.  2  Ibid.,  pp.  71,  70. 

3  "  To  this  fear  of  the  loved  one  is  added  the  fear  of  detection 
by  others.  The  lady  is  always  addressed  by  an  assumed  name 
(Bels  Vezers,  Tort  n'Avetz,  etc.).  There  is  a  continual  abuse  of 
tale-bearers  (lausengiers)  and  a  strong  desire  for  secrecy." 
L.  F.  Mott,  System  of  Courtly  Love,  1896,  p.  12. 

4  Collier's  Reprint,  p.  49.  5  Reprinted  by  Arber. 


in.]  LYRIC   THEMES  87 

claim  to  literary  interest  is  that  its  first  song, 
A  Nosegay,1  is  supposed  to  have  furnished  the  model 
for  Ophelia's  posy.  But  the  intention  of  the  pub- 
lisher, far  from  imitating  TottePs  Miscellany,  was, 
as  he  says  in  his  versified  preface,  to  supply  a 
handy  volume  of  favorite  ballads  for  those  who 
like  singing,  —  to  make  a  song-book,  in  short ;  and, 
as  Mr.  Arber  remarks,  had  it  appeared  twelve  years 
later,  it  would  have  had  the  music  as  well  as  the 
words.2  As  it  is,  the  tune  is  named  to  which  each 
song  is  expected  to  be  sung. 

This  miscellany,  then,  falls  between  the  two  pop-, 
ular  forms  of  lyric  publishing ;  it  is  not  a  literary 
collection,  nor  has  it  entirely  the  practical  equip- 
ment of  the  later  song-books.  Among  the  traits, 
however,  that  show  its  kinship  to  the  earlier  col- 
lections, are  the  subject-matter  and  the  length  of 
the  songs.  These  are  not  the  "swallow-flights  of 
song,"  of  the  madrigal  books,  but  might  rather 
be  classed  with  the  lengthy  street-ballads  of  Eliza- 
beth's time.  Yet,  on  the  other  hand,  they  show 
their  practical  song-nature  in  their  construction, 
always  simple,  and  in  their  language,  which  never 
usurps  the  melody  of  the  music.  There  is  little 
art  in  the  words,  and  less  in  the  music  for  which 
the  verses  were  intended;  they  are  but  simple, 
popular  melodies,  repeated  interminably  as  long  as 
the  stanzas  last. 

Such  length  of  words  and  comparative  shortness 
1  Ibid.,  p.  3.  2  Ibid.,  Introduction,  p.  xi. 


88  THE   ELIZABETHAN   LYRIC  [chap. 

of  tune,  in  songs  of  this  sort,  results  always  in  dis- 
crediting both  arts.  There  can  be  little  emotional 
sympathy  between  words  and  music,  when  the  same 
melodic  phrases  are  made  to  cover  the  varying  sen- 
timents of  the  different  stanzas;  and  the  effective 
turns  of  the  words  are  smoothed  over  and  made  un- 
noticeable  by  the  monotonous  tune.  The  effect  of 
such  a  combination  is  to  give  rise  to  what  we 
usually  call  "  popular  songs,"  though  it  is  clear  that 
folk-songs  and  national  lyrics  are  not  meant.  This 
miscellany  is  the  exact  type  of  such  "popular" 
creations.  The  audience  to  whom  the  publisher 
appealed  evidently  had  no  appreciation  of  the  art- 
lyric,  as  practised  by  Wyatt,  nor  were  they  musi- 
cians, except  in  so  far  as  they  may  have  had  the 
ability  to  remember  a  tune. 

Most  of  the  themes  are  old.  There  are  numer- 
ous love-plaints,  in  which  the  lover  chides  the 
hard-hearted  lady  for  being  too  difficult  to  win. 
In  one  case  a  certain  effect  is  got  by  making  the 
woman  the  suitor,1  but  the  song  is  really  the  same  ; 
in  none  of  the  lyrics  of  this  period  in  which  a 
woman  speaks  is  there  much  expression  of  a  femi- 
nine point  of  view ;  it  is  simply  a  man's  emotions 
under  another  name. 

The  satiric  song  against  women  appears  slightly 

disguised  in  a   Warning  for  Lovers,2  in  which  the 

poet  expresses  clearly  his  opinion  of  the  sex.     The 

religious   song  also  has   but   one   example  in  the 

1  Arber  Reprint,  p.  43.  2  Ibid.,  p.  37. 


in.]  LYRIC   THEMES  89 

collection,  and  in  that,  too,  the  theme  is  somewhat 
new.  The  Joy  of  Virginity 1  expresses  the  reli- 
gious and  monastic  doctrines  as  to  that  state ;  from 
this  time  on  it  is  a  favorite  theme  in  the  miscel- 
lanies. Among  the  purely  moral  songs,  a  new 
theme  comes  in  with  the  song  At  Cambridge  Castle.- 
The  supposed  poet,  imprisoned  for  crime,  tells 
others  to  profit  by  his  example,  and  live  more 
righteously.  This  theme  constantly  reappears  in 
the  street-ballads  of  Elizabethan  criminals. 

The  fifth  miscellany,  the  Phoenix  Nest,3  1593,  ~SL 
shows  a  much  higher  level  of  art,  and  is  closer 
to  contemporary  literature  than  the  preceding 
collections.  The  first  three  pieces  are  elegies  on 
Sir  Philip  Sidney,  written  in  a  somewhat  loftier 
mood  than  anything  of  the  kind  in  the  earlier 
books.  The  second  elegy,  especially  (in  the  riming 
system  that  Tennyson  adopted  for  In  Memoriam), 
has  a  rugged  directness  quite  new  to  the  conven- 
tional "  epitaph,"  as  in  the  stanza :  — 

"England  doth  hold  thy  limns  that  bred  the  same, 
Flanders  thy  valure  where  it  last  was  tried, 
The  camp  thy  sorrow  where  thy  body  died, 
Thy  friends,  thy  want ;  the  world,  thy  vertnes  fame."  4 

This  elegy,  which  was  reprinted  two  years  later 
with  Spenser's  Astrophel,  is  attributed  to  Sir  Walter  — 
Ealeigh.     Five  of  his  pieces  are  preserved  anony- 
mously in  this  miscellany.     Though  the  elegy  is 

i  Ibid.,  p.  36.  3  Collier's  Reprint. 

'Ibid.,  p.  57.  *  Ibid.,  p.  18. 


90  THE    ELIZABETHAN   LYRIC  [chap. 

probably  the  best,  each  of  the  others  is  interesting 
on  its  own  account.  The  most  unusual  is  the  Fare- 
well to  the  Court,1  which  attracts  not  only  by  its 
autobiographic  qualities,  but  by  its  technic ;  it  is  an 
English  sonnet,  with  the  last  line  of  each  quatrain 
used  as  a  refrain. 

The  praise  of  chastity,  introduced  as  a  lyric 
theme  in  the  preceding  miscellany,  here  has  two 
examples.  In  one,  the  argument  is  based  upon 
religious  and  moral  observation,  as  in  the  first 
occurrence  of  the  theme ; 2  in  the  other  the  poet 
pleads  the  beauty  of  maidenhood,  evidently  taking 
as  his  model  for  theme  and  treatment  the  verses 
from  Orlando  Furioso,  i.  41,  "La  verginella  e  simile 
alia  rosa,"  etc.3 

The  chief  importance  of  the  volume,  however, 
lies  in  the  number  of  art-lyrics  it  contains.  The 
larger  part  of  the  poems  are  songs  of  considerable 
merit,  made  on  a  variety  of  stanzas,  but  all  con- 
forming to  the  limits  and  requirements  of  the  lyric. 
The  long  narrative  ballads  of  the  preceding  vol- 
ume are  set  aside  for  the  short,  swift  expression 
of  purely  lyrical  emotion.  For  the  first  time  in 
miscellany  literature,  complicated  forms  are  used 
without  disturbing  the  lightness  of  the  song,  as  in 
the  lyric  by  Thomas  Lodge,  beginning :  — 

1  Collier's  Reprint,  p.  70.  Raleigh's  literary  remains  are 
edited  by  J.  Hannah,  the  Aldine  poets,  1870;  reissued  1891. 

2  Collier's  Reprint,  p.  23. 

3  Ibid.,  p.  119. 


in.]  LYRIC   THEMES  91 

"  My  bonie  Lass,  thine  eye 

So  slie, 
Hath  made  me  sorrowe  so  ; 
Thy  Crimsen  cheekes  my  deare 

So  cleere, 
Have  so  much  wrought  my  woe,"  1  etc. 

It  is  easy  to  recognize  the  theme  of  the  love-plaint 
in  this  opening  stanza,  but  the  manner  is  quite 
new;  the  song-quality,  lightness  of  word  and  im- 
agery, has  become  more  important  than  the  sub- 
ject-matter. This  is  the  first  example  in  the 
miscellanies  of  this  Elizabethan  trait — a  joyous 
treatment  of  ostensibly  unhappy  themes,  often 
practised  by  Shakspere,  as  in  "  Sigh  no  more, 
ladies,  sigh  no  more ! "  The  trait  defies  analy- 
sis, and  later  becomes  familiar  in  the  Cavalier 
lyrics. 

Several  love-songs  in  praise  of  women  have  a 
peculiar  structure,  which  from  this  time  is  met 
with  everywhere  in  the  lyric.  They  recount  the 
charms  of  the  lady  by  enumerating  the  details  of 
her  beauty,  —  hair,  brow,  cheeks,  lips,  etc.,  from 
head  to  foot.  There  is  nothing  new  in  the  method ; 
Watson  said  he  got  it  from  iEneas  Silvius  and 
Ariosto ; 2  the  important  thing  about  it  is  that  all 
the  details  of  the  picture  immediately  became  con- 
ventionalized with  the  English  poets,  and  it  is  the 
ideal  of  beauty  for  the  whole  period,  except  when 

1  Ibid.,  p.  79. 

2  Thomas  Watson,  Poems,  Arber  Reprint,  1895,  p.  43. 


92  THE   ELIZABETHAN  LYRIC  [chap. 

an  occasional  bold  singer  like  Shakspere  cries  down 
the  tyranny  of  the  fashion.1 

The  same  convention  is  reflected  in  one  of  the 
numerous  sonnets  in  the  book,  in  which  the  poet, 
by  a  purely  rhetorical  device,  rings  the  changes  of 
his  art  on  the  details  of  his  lady's  beauty.  The 
device  becomes  so  common  with  the  Elizabethans, 
that  an  example  in  full  will  not  be  out  of  place :  — 

"Those  eies  which  set  my  fancie  on  a  fire, 
Those  crisped  haires,  which  hold  my  hart  in  chains, 
Those  daintie  hands,  which  conquered  my  desire, 
That  wit,  which  of  my  thoughts  doth  hold  the  rains, 
Those  eies  for  cleereness  do  the  stars  surpas, 
Those  haires  obscure  the  brightness  of  the  sunne, 
Tbose  hands  more  white  than  ever  Ivorie  was, 
That  wit  even  to  the  skies  hath  glorie  won. 
O  eies  that  pearse  our  harts  without  remorse, 
O  haires  of  right  that  weare  a  roiall  crowne, 
O  hands  that  conquer  more  than  Cresars  force, 
O  wit  that  turns  huge  kingdoms  upside  down. 
Then  love  be  judge,  what  hart  can  thee  withstand  : 
Such  eies,  such  haire,  such  wit,  and  such  a  hand."  2 

The  sixth  miscellany,  England's  Helicon,  1600,3 
brings  us  at  once  into  the  company  of  the  great 
lyrists.  The  names  of  Sidney,  Spenser,  Breton, 
Lodge,  Peele,  Barnfield,  and  others  are  signed  to 
their  poems.  But  it  is  only  to  the  first  pastoral 
period  of  the  Elizabethan  lyric  that  the  collection 
introduces  us,  and  of  this  period  Sidney  is  most 
expressive.     Not  only   does   he   leadtEe  poets  in 

i  Sonnet,  No.  130.  2  Collier's  Reprint,  p.  S9. 

3  Collier's  Reprint. 


hi.]  LYRIC   THEMES  93 

personal  fame,  but  in  his  work,  especially  in  the 
Arcadia,  he  gave  them  a  conventional  life  upon 
which  to  draw  for  the  facts  of  their  lyric  experience. 

In  the  hands  of  the  pastoral  school  the  old  lyric  I 
themes  take  a  slightly  different  appearance.  For 
example,  the  typical  lover  of  the  early  miscellanies 
becomes  a  shepherd,  and  his  lady  a  shepherdess ; 
his  emotions  are  translated  no  longer  into  classical 
images,  but  into  conventional  scenes  of  the  hill- 
side.1 The  old  praise  of  the  mean  estate  becomes 
a  praise  of  the  shepherd's  life,  as  distinguished 
from  the  city  or  the  court.2  To  some  lyric-forms, 
such  as  the  dibat,3  and  the  pastourelle,4  the  proper 
setting  is  restored  by  the  country  background  and 
the  open  air ;  and  the  pastoral  convention  appears 
curiously  in  The  Shepherd' 's  Song ;  a  Caroll  or 
Hymne  for  Christmas.5  The  shepherd's  piping  is 
compared  with  the  angel's  song;  the  stars  are 
described  as  flocks  pent  "  within  an  azure  fold  "  ; 
and  the  angel  tells  the  shepherds  that  Christ  is 
born,  "the  Worlds  great  Sheepheard." 

With  the  pastoral  tradition  come  a  number  of 
dialogue  lyrics,  probably  suggested  by  the  dialogues 
in  Virgil  and  Theocritus.  These  poems  divide 
easily  into  two  classes  —  those  in  which  the 
dialogue  is  framed  of  questions  and  answers,  as 
in  Virgil's  first  Eclogue,  and  those  in  which  the 
singers  share  the  song  by  turns,  either  to  compare 

i  Ibid.,  p.  16.  3  Ibid.,  p.  102.  6  lUd.,  p.  152. 

2  Ibid.,  p.  27.  4  Ibid.,  p.  31. 


94  THE   ELIZABETHAN   LYRIC  [chap. 

their  skill,  or  for  the  simple  effect  of  refrain.  A 
good  example  of  the  first  kind  of  dialogue  is  Peele's 
"  Melampus,  when  will  love  be  void  of  fears," 1  in 
which  the  trials  of  love  are  brought  out  by  a  series 
of  questions  and  answers.  Of  the  second  type,  the 
contention  in  verse,  the  best  illustration  is  the  song 
in  which  Faustus  and  Firmius  sing  to  their  Nimjih 
by  Turns.2  The  simple  effect  of  a  refrain  is  seen 
in  the  form  of  song  called  the  roundelay,  in  which 
one  singer  advances  the  lyric  by  alternate  lines, 
while  in  between  the  other  makes  impromptu  vari- 
ations of  theme  and  phrases,  as  in  Perigot  and 
Cuddies  Roundelay : 3  — 

P.  "It  fell  upon  a  holy-Eve, 

C.  Hey  hoe  holy-day  ; 

P.  When  holy-Fathers  wont  to  shrive, 

C.  Now  ginneth  this  Roundelay. 

P.  Sitting  upon  a  hill  so  hie, 

C.  Hey  hoe  the  hie  hill, 

P.  The  while  mj^  fiocke  did  feede  thereby, 

C.  The  while  the  Shepheardes  selfe  did  spill." 

The  fashion  of  complimenting  the  queen  in  ex- 
travagant poems  was  well  developed  when  this 
book  was  published,  and  was  colored  by  the  pastoral 
tradition,  the  queen  becoming  a  sylvan  dedy,  to  be 
worshipped  in  images  of  nature. 

A  hint  of  another  great  lyric  period  is  given  in 
the  half-dozen  songs  reprinted  from  the  first  song- 
books.4     They  remind  us  that  the  end  of  the  mis- 

i  Collier's  Reprint,  p.  40.  8  ibid.,  p.  28. 

*  Ibid.,  p.  147.  *  Ibid.,  p.  174. 


in.]  LYRIC   THEMES  95 

cellany  period  is  at  hand,  yet  at  the  same  time 
they  show  that  the  new  songs  are  art-lyrics,  to  be 
enjoyed  without  the  music. 

One  altogether  new  lyric  theme  is  the  epitha- 
lamium,  ArJUeus  his  caroll,  for  toy  of  the  new  mar- 
riage, between  Syrenus  and  Diana}  It  follows  the 
model  of  Spenser's  wedding-song,  with  the  same 
pastoral  setting  and  use  of  a  refrain,  "Ring  foorth 
fair  Nimphs  your  joyfull  Songs  for  gladness ;  "  but 
the  emotional  intensity  of  Spenser's  poem  declines 
here  into  a  tone  of  sincere  compliment,  which 
persists  in  the  similar  writings  of  Jonson  and 
Herrick. 

The  last  of  the  miscellanies  is  Davison's  Poetical 
RJiapsody,  1602. 2  By  this  time  the  publication  of 
poetry  was  so  general  that  the  editors  of  collections 
could  not  expect  to  find  manuscript  pieces  of  any 
merit,  and  in  consequence  the  miscellany  became  a 
mere  reprint  of  successful  lyrics.  From  this  it 
easily  declined  into  a  collection  of  poetical  quota- 
tions like  England's  Parnassus,  1600,  and  Belvedere, 
or  the  Garden  of  the  Muses,  of  the  same  year. 

Davison's  miscellany  begins,  like  its  predecessor, 
with  poems  of  Sir  Philip  Sidney.  These  two  lyrics,3 
devoted  to  his  friendship  with  Sir  Edward  Dyer 
and  Fulke  Greville,  strike  a  true  note  in  the  midst 
of  verse  not  remarkable  for  literal  sincerity.  A 
large  part  of  the  book  is  given  up  to  sonnets,  some 
of  which  are  taken  in  groups  from  earlier  publica- 

1  Ibid.,  p.  154.  2  Collier's  Reprint.  3  Ibid.,  p.  9. 


7/J 


96  THE   ELIZABETHAN   LYRIC  [chap. 

tions,  as  the  ten  sonnets1  from  Watson's  Passionate 
Centurie  of  Love,  1582.  A  number  of  lyrics  are 
called  madrigals,  in  the  inaccurate  fashion  of  the 
Elizabethan  poets ;  they  have  but  few  marks  of 
the  strict  madrigal.  They  all,  however,  like  the 
English  examples  of  the  madrigal,  have  a  strong 
epigrammatic  turn  —  a  quality  which  is  in  evidence 
throughout  the  miscellany. 

The  praise  of  the  mean  estate,  lately  transposed 
into  a  praise  of  country  life,  now  becomes  a  praise 
of  vagabondage,  in  a  Song  in  Praise  of  a  Beggar's 
Life.2  But  the  true  note  of  vagabondage  is  not  yet 
struck;  the  poet  has  no  experience  of  the  life  he 
sings,  and  his  song,  in  spite  of  its  intention  and  its 
disguise,  is  still  the  praise  of  a  quiet  life.  The 
song  against  women  is  almost  at  its  last  gasp  in 
the  so-called  Invective.3  The  tradition  of  chiv- 
alry after  Spenser  and  Sidney  is  too  strong  for  the 
old  theme,  and  the  poet  qualifies  his  criticism  so  as 
quite  to  take  off  the  edge. 

Three  epitaphs  upon  the  death  of  a  "rare  child 
of  six  years  old,"  are  epitaphs  in  the  modern  sense, 
not  long  moralizings  as  in  the  first  miscellanies. 
The  child-motive  in  poetry  seems  always  to  add 
grace  to  the  poet ;  certainly  these  three  epigrams 
show  more  than  usual  feeling. 

It  will  be  seen  from  this  study  that  certain  of 
the  old  lyric  themes  are  constant  throughout  the 
miscellanies.     The  small ness  of  their  number  will 

i  Collier's  Reprint,  p.  98.       2  Ibid.,  p.  161.       3  Ibid.,  p.  190. 


in.]  LYRIC   THEMES  97 

be  paralleled  by  the  small  number  of  lyrical  themes 
in  the  sonnets ;  it  might  be  paralleled  from  all 
lyric  poetry.  Gozzi's  contention,  recorded  by 
Goethe,1  that  the  number  of  possible  situations  in 
tragedy  was  thirty-six,  suggests  that  the  number 
of  possible  themes  in  the  lyric  may  not  be  much 
larger.  The  development  and  modification  of  the 
few  themes  of  this  period  has  been  noted.  The 
most  significant  change,  however,  is  in  the  miscel- 
lanies themselves.  With  Tottel's,  they  came  into 
fashion  as  a  convenient  method  of  placing  modest 
poets  before  the  public;  with  Davison's,  they 
reached  their  tdtimate  decline  as  mere  collections 
of  already  popular  poems. 

1  "  Gozzi  asserted  that  there  could  he  but  thirty-six  tragic 
situations.  Schiller  tried  hard  to  find  more,  but  he  could  not 
find  even  as  many  as  Gozzi."  —  Conversations  with  Eckermann. 
For  the  situations  in  detail,  cf.  Les  36  Situations  Dramatiques, 
par  Georges  Polti,  Paris,  1895. 


CHAPTER  IV 
OTHER    LYEISTS    OF   THE    MISCELLANY    PERIOD 

Most  of  Surrey's  and  Wyatt's  poems  were  included 
in  Totter s  Miscellany,  and  the  few  then  omitted  were 
afterward  recovered  from  manuscripts,  and  pub- 
lished in  the  complete  editions  of  the  new  poets.1 
They  come  easily  under  the  classifications  of  the 
lyrics  in  the  Miscellany,  having,  with  one  excep- 
tion, no  distinction  from  them  in  matter  or  form. 
The  exception  is  the  series  of  rondeaus  made  by 
Wyatt,2  which  show  still  more  clearly  his  gift  for 
the  art-lyric  and  his  ease  in  lyric  forms. 

The  first  lyrics  to  be  published  after  TotteVs 
Miscellany  were  Barnaby  Googe's  Eglogs,  Epytaphes, 
and  Sonettes,  1563.3  The  unwillingness  of  the 
poets  to  come  into  print,  which  furnished  excuse 
for  Tottel's  venture,  is  recalled  in  the  history  of 
this  volume.  Googe  went  to  Spain  in  1561,  leaving 
his  manuscript  for  safety  with  a  friend,  Blundeston, 
who,  finding  the  verses  good,  sent  them  to  a  pub- 
lisher.     When    Googe    returned,    the    work    was 

1  The  Works  of  Henry  Howard,  Earl  of  Surrey,  and  Sir  T. 
Wyatt,  G.  F.  Nott,  2  vols.,  London,  1815-16. 

2  Ibid.,  ii.  p.  18. 

3  Aiber's  Reprint. 

98 


ciiAi-.  iv.]  OTHER   LYRISTS  99 

already  set  up,  to  the  amazement  of  the  author, 
and  shortly  afterward  it  appeared.1 

Of  the  eight  eclogues  only  the  second2  is  entirely 
lyrical.  This  is  a  complaint  of  rejected  love,  put  in 
the  mouth  of  a  shepherd,  with  the  conventional 
imagery  of  the  pastoral.  The  lyric  effect  is  helped 
by  the  recurrence  of  one  line,  at  regular  intervals, 
like  a  refrain :  — 

"  Thou  seest  her  mind  ;  why  fearest  thou  than, 
Dametas,  for  to  dye  ?  " 

In  this  volume  all  septenaries  are  divided,  as  in 
the  quotation,  after  the  fourth  accent,  and  alexan- 
drines after  the  third.  This  peculiarity  is  explained 
on  the  score  of  economy  ;  the  printer,  it  is  supposed, 
wished  to  get  the  verses  in  fairly  large  type  on  a 
small  page.  But  the  extreme  is  reached  in  pentap- 
ody  verses,  all  of  which  are  divided  after  the  sec- 
ond accent,  as  in  the  lines  to  Alexander  Neville : 3 — 

"The  Muses  joye, 

and  well  they  may  to  se, 
So  well  theyr  la- 

boure  com  to  good  sucesse"  etc. 

Of  the  four  epitaphs,  the  one  on  Thomas  Phaer 4 
and  that  on  Nicholas  Grimald5  are  remembered 
for  their  literary  associations,  but  they  have  no 
lyrical  quality.  The  one  on  M.  Shelley  slayne  at 
Musselbroughe6  is  better.     It  is  rather  the  celebra- 

1  Ibid.,  Introduction,  p.  8.       3  Ibid.,  p.  75.        6  Ibid.,  p.  73. 
*  Ibid.,  p.  36.  *  Ibid.,  p.  72.        *  Ibid.,  p.  70. 


100  THE   ELIZABETHAN   LYRIC  [chap. 

tion  of  a  heroic  deed,  like  the  Charge  of  the  Light 
Brigade,  than  a  funeral  song ;  indeed,  except  for  its 
inferior  subject,  it  belongs  with  the  battle-songs. 
Shelley,  according  to  Googe,  when  the  English,  out- 
numbered by  the  Scotch,  hesitated  in  the  charge, 
threw  himself  before  the  enemy,  losing  his  life 
to  inspire  his  comrades.  The  national  prejudice 
against  the  Scotch  and  the  ardor  of  battle  are 
expressed  almost  in  Minot's  vigorous  manner. 

The  term  "  sonettes,"  applied  to  the  rest  of  the 
poems,  is  a  loose  term  for  lyrics.  There  are  no 
sonnets  in  the  book.  The  first  thirteen  of  these 
lyrics  are  really  epistles,  moral  and  complimentary, 
addressed  to  the  poet's  friends,  and  not  lyrics  by 
any  test  of  external  form.  They  all,  however,  re- 
veal Googe's  personality  intimately.  He  has  the 
tone  of  familiarity  with  the  reader  often  seen  in 
minor  poets,  and  not  to  be  confounded  with  the 
revelation  of  personality  which  comes  from  exalted 
lyric  inspiration. 

The  love-songs,  such  as  "  Once  musing  as  I  sat," 1 
show  Googe  at  his  best.  Here,  as  in  the  song  on 
Shelley,  the  lyric  motive  is  clearly  enunciated  in 
the  beginning,  and  quickly  developed,  with  no 
superfluity  of  thought  or  word.  The  same  quali- 
ties are  in  the  short  lyric  To  Mistress  D?  It  cele- 
brates Mary  Darrell,  the  lady  who,  after  a  stormy 
romance,  became  the  poet's  bride.3 

1  Arber's  Reprint,  p.  93.  8  Ibid.,  Introduction,  p.  8  sq. 

2  Ibid.,  p.  92. 


iv.]  OTHER   LYRISTS  101 

The  lines  on  Goyng  toivardes  Spayne,1  in  which 
Googe  bids  farewell  to  England,  confessing  at  the 
same  time  the  love  of  travel  that  takes  him  forth, 
and  the  verses  on  Commynge  home  warde  out  of 
Spayne,2  in  which  he  prays  for  safe  voyage  to  his 
native  shore,  both  recall  Wyatt's  poems  on  a  similar 
return,  which  perhaps  here  served  as  a  model. 
There  is  the  same  note  of  affection  for  England  in 
all  these  poems,  and  in  all  alike  the  lyric  motive 
springs  naturally  from  the  new  presence  of  travel 
in  the  poets'  lives. 

The  next  publication,  Turberville's  Epitaphs, 
Epigrams,  Songs  and  Sonets,3  even  when  compared 
with  Googe's  modest  performances,  is  an  inferior 
collection ;  Turberville  betrays  at  once  his  pov- 
erty of  ideas,  both  by  seeking  lyric  motives  in 
sentimental  and  fantastic  situations,  as  in  the  lines 
To  his  Ladie,  that  by  hap  when  he  kissed  her  and 
made  hir  lippe  bleede,  controlde  him  and  tooke  dis- 
daine*  and  by  making  a  complicated  and  ingen- 
ious stanza  the  chief  excuse  for  a  lyric,  as  in  the 
verses,  The  Lover  obtayning  his  Wishe,  etc.5  This 
poet  evidently  caught  the  glamour  of  poesie,  but 
none  of  the  spark,  from  Surrey  and  Googe,  both  of 
whom  he  mentions.  He  carries  on  their  themes 
without  distinction,  even  imitating  the  latter's 
verses   to   real  women  by  addressing  a  supposed 

i  Ibid.,  p.  100.  2  md.,  p.  102. 

3  In  Chalmers's  English  Poets,  ii.  p.  583  sq.,  and  in  Collier's 
Reprint,  1895.  4  Ibid.,  p.  588.  <*  j^.,  p.  590. 


102  THE   ELIZABETHAN  LYRIC  [chap. 

mistress  of  his  own,  whom  he  designates  by  the 
initial  "  P." 1  His  most  original  note  is  a  certain 
hard  treatment  of  physical  deformity,  a  quality 
which  reappears  in  Herrick's  verse.  It  is  illus- 
trated in  Turberville  by  the  verses  on  An  aged 
Gentleivoman,2  or  by  the  epigram  On  one  that  had  a 
great  nose.3 

Turberville  shows  in  his  shorter  lyrics  a  large 
amount  of  classical  suggestion.  In  several  cases 
he  translates  directly,  as  in  the  version  of  the  epi- 
gram ascribed  to  Plato,  'Aarepas  daadpels  dcrTr]p  e/xos.'4 

But  this  smattering  of  classical  motives  found  no 
reaction  in  his  imagination,  and  left  his  verse  as 
arid  as  before. 

In  1572,  two  years  after  Turberville' s  volume, 
appeared  Gascoigne's  A  Hundreth  Sundrie  Floivers. 
This  was  a  miscellaneous  collection  of  his  poems, 
lyrical  only  in  part,  and  it  was  included  in  the 
enlarged  edition  of  his  works  in  1575,  called  the 
Posies  of  George  Gascoigne  Esquire.5  The  poet 
arranges  his  works,  under  this  general  title,  in 
three  classes,  designated  as  "  Flowers,"  "  Hearbes," 
and  "  Weedes,"  by  which  terms  he  meant  to  indi- 
cate differences  in  poetic  charm.  It  is  hard,  now, 
however,  to  see  much  difference  in  the  poems  of 
these  classes.     Gascoigne's  importance  is  due  to  his 

1  English  Poets,  p.  648.  3  Ibid.,  p.  623. 

n-Ibid.,v-  603.  4  Ibid. ,  p.  635. 

5  Complete  Poems  of  George  Gascoigne,  William  Carew 
Hazlitt,  The  Roxburgke  Library,  2  vols.,  1869. 


iv.]  OTHER   LYRISTS  103 

versatility  in  other  forms  of  literature,  rather  than 
to  any  unusual  skill  as  a  lyrist.  He  should  be 
ranked  with  Googe  and  Turberville  as  an  exponent 
of  the  type  of  song  found  in  the  less  important 
miscellanies.  He  profits  by  the  new  learning  from 
Italy  in  the  comparative  smoothness  of  his  language 
and  verse ;  but  in  his  lyric  poetry,  at  least,  he  is  quite 
untouched  by  the  new  inspiration. 

In  his  lyric  motives  he  shows  the  fondness,  noted 
in  Turberville,  for  unusual  and  striking  situations. 
His  method  seems  to  be  to  take  over  the  titles  and 
imagery  of  familiar  themes  into  unrelated  fields  of 
emotion,  so  as  to  create,  for  each  poem  so  treated, 
an  artificial  interest.  For  example,  in  the  Divorce 
of  a  Lover,1  the  connotation  of  the  title  is  the  basis 
for  a  contrast  with  the  real  theme,  as  announced  in 
the  first  line :  — 

"Divorce  me  nowe,  good  death,  from  love  and  lingering 
Life." 

So  in  the  Lidlabie  of  a  Lover,2  the  poet,  through 
the  imagery  of  the  slumber-song,  bids  farewell  to 
youth  and  its  pleasures  :  — 

"  First  lullaby  my  youthfull  yeares, 
It  is  nowe  time  to  go  to  bed,"  etc. 

There  is  a  strong  narrative  tendency  in  Gas- 
coigne's  work,  which  shows  itself  in  a  disposition 
to  join  lyrics  in  series,  or  to  comment  upon  them, 
either  in  prose  or  verse.     Excellent  illustrations  are 

i  Ibid.,  i.  p.  41.  2  Ibid.,  p.  43. 


104  THE   ELIZABETHAN   LYRIC  [chap. 

the  group  of  lyrics  exchanged  between  the  poet  and 
a  certain  lady,  which  follow  the  verses  On  the  Looks 
of  a  Lover  Enamoured,1  and  the  series  called  Gas- 
coigne's  Memories.2  This  narrative  vein  recalls  the 
elaborate  titles  of  the  first  miscellanies,  which 
sought  to  explain  beforehand  the  situation  from 
which  the  lyric  arose.  Perhaps  also  the  tendency 
is  part  of  the  new  habit  of  connecting  a  series  of 
lyrics  by  unity  either  of  subject  or  of  mood,  or  by 
some  external  theme,  as  in  the  Shepheards  Calender, 
where  Spenser  adopts  the  same  assistance  of  narra- 
tive introduction  and  comment. 

The  moral  strain  indicated  in  the  subjects  of  the 
Divorce  of  a  Lover,  and  the  Lullabie,  serves  as  in- 
spiration for  the  two  religious  lyrics,  Gascoigne's 
Good-morrow3  and.  Gascoigne's  Good-night.*  Slightly 
fantastic  in  imagery,  but  devout  and  meditative  in 
spirit,  they  seem  nearer  to  Herbert  than  to  the  old 
moralizing  poems.  In  lyrical  feeling  the  De  Profin- 
dis5  is  more  ambitious.  It  is  an  elaborate  para- 
phrase of  the  fifty-first  psalm  :  — 

"Before  the  breake  or  dawning  of  the  daye, 
Before  the  light  be  seene  in  loftye  skyes, 
Before  the  sunne  appeare  in  pleasaunt  wyse, 
Before  the  watche  (before  the  watche  I  saye) 
Before  the  warde  that  waytes  therefore  alwaye  : 
My  soule,  my  sense,  my  secrete  thoughte,  my  sprite, 
My  wyll,  my  wishe,  my  ioye,  and  my  delight : 

1  Complete  Poems  of  George  Gascoigne,  p.  45. 

2  Ibid.,  p.  63.  *  zbid.,  p.  58. 
*  Ibid.,  p.  56.  ?>  Ibid.,  p.  60. 


iv.]  OTHER   LYRISTS  105 

Unto  the  Lord  that  sittes  in  heaven  on  highe. 

With  hastye  wing, 

From  me  doeth  fling, 

And  stryveth  sty  11,  unto  the  Lorde  to  flye." 

Gascoigne  seems  to  inherit  much  of  his  literary 
machinery  from  Chaucer  rather  than  from  Italy. 
In  external  form,  for  example,  he  frequently  recalls 
Chaucer's  ballades,  as  in  the  Shield  of  Love  ; '  in 
many  other  lyrics  he  employs  an  envoy.  In  some 
poems,  like  the  Spring  Song,2  he  resorts  to  astron- 
omy, in  Chaucer's  manner,  to  fix  the  time  of  the 
year,  and  he  makes  the  same  heterogeneous  use  of 
mythology  and  classical  literature  to  furnish  illus- 
trations of  his  meaning.3 

Of  the  poems  in  Thomas  Churchyard's  Chips, 
1575,  only  two  are  lyrics.4  The  first,  the  Praise  of 
Our  Soldiers,5  has  a  biographical  as  well  as  literary 
interest,  since  the  poet  himself  had  borne  arms. 
He  expresses  a  perennial  soldier's  point  of  view, 
the  obligation  of  the  men  at  home  to  those  who 
secure  peace  for  them  by  service  in  the  field.  It 
has  been  suggested  that  Churchyard's  life  as  a 
soldier  kept  him  free  from  "  tedious  classical  allu- 
sions." 6  Whatever  be  the  reason,  his  style  is  very 
straightforward  and  manly,  and  in  the  last  lines  of 
this  particular  lyric,  he  attains  a  certain  elevation  in 
describing  the  character  of  his  "  happy  warriors." 
His  praise  is  not  for  mercenaries,  he  says,  but  for  — 

1  Ibid.,  p.  365.  3  Ibid.,  p.  53,  In  praise  of  Bridges. 

2  Ibid.,  p.  357.  *  Churchyard's  Chips,  Collier  Reprint. 

6  Ibid.,  p.  212.  6  Ibid.,  Introduction,  p.  ii. 


106  THE   ELIZABETHAN   LYRIC  [chap. 

"  Those  whose  minds  and  nohle  manners  shows 
In  peace  and  war,  lo  !  there  a  soldier  goes  ; 
Of  life  most  clear,  of  deed  and  word  full  just, 
In  trial  still  a  man  of  special  trust." 

The  other  lyric  poem  is  the  hymn  or  song  in  the 
entertainment  prepared  for  the  Queen's  visit  to 
Bristow.1  It  is  a  practical  song,  not  an  art-lyric, 
for  it  was  intended  for  music.  The  account  says : 
"  thear  wras  a  speetch  to  be  sayd  and  an  imme  to  be 
songe;  the  speeche  was  left  out  by  an  occasion 
unlooked  for,  but  the  imme  was  songe  by  a  very 
fien  boye."  2  The  "  imme,"  written  in  the  "  poulter's 
measure,"  congratulates  the  town  on  the  august 
presence,  and  wishes  for  the  Queen  freedom  from 
rebellion  and  treachery.3 

It  has  become  obvious,  by  this  time,  that  the 
quality  of  lyric  poetry  since  "Wyatt  and  Surrey  was 
steadily  declining.  The  inspiration  of  their  Italian 
scholarship  brought  but  a  momentary  exaltation  to 
the  verse  of  their  comrades  and  imitators.  Now, 
however,  in  1579,  the  impulse  returned  with  abiding 
power  in  Spenser's  Sliepheards  Calender*  the  first 
unequivocal  appearance  of  lyric  genius  in  Eliza- 

1  Churchijard's  Chips,  p.  222.  2  Ibid.,  p.  221. 

3  A  number  of  very  minor  poets,  belonging  to  this  period, 
such  as  Tbomas  Howell,  Robert  Prickett,  Charles  Fitz-Jeffrey, 
and  others,  have  been  reprinted  by  Dr.  A.  B.  Grosart  in  his 
Occasional  Issues.  In  every  case  the  editor's  industry  is  more 
remarkable  than  the  poetry.  In  this  study  we  shall  consider 
our  duty  to  such  forgotten  rimesters  more  than  done  when  we 
have  mentioned  their  collective  existence. 

4  Works  of  Edmund  Spenser,  R.  Morris.  London,  1S99, 
p.  439  sq. 


iv.]  OTHER   LYRISTS  107 

bethan  song.  Comparatively,  there  was  a  certain 
indefiniteness  about  the  poems  of  Wyatt  and  Surrey ; 
they  appeared  in  a  disorderly  arrangement,  side  by 
side  with  the  inferior  verses  of  other  men,  they 
represented  a  polite  accomplishment,  not  the  life- 
work,  of  their  authors,  and  they  appeared  after 
those  authors  were  dead.  Spenser,  on  the  other 
hand,  superintended  the  publishing  of  his  own 
poems,  deliberately  seeking  fame  as  a  poet,  and 
through  the  unity  of  his  general  plan  of  a  .calendar, 
got  away,  once  for  all,  from  the  miscellany  disorder. 
It  is  apparent  at  once  that  he  derives  his  inspira- 
tion from  Virgil  rather  than  from  Italian  sources. 
The  familiar  themes  remain,  but  the  poet  expresses 
them  in  a  new  manner.  The  external  rhythms  and 
stanza-forms  are  indeed  only  more  delicate  uses  of 
well-known  material.  It  is  in  the  studied  treat- 
ment of  theme,  the  natural  grouping  of  images,  and 
above  all,  in  the  development  of  the  lyric  emotion, 
that  Spenser  attains  the  first  considerable  height 
in  Elizabethan  song.  After  reading  the  lyrics  scat- 
tered through  these  eclogues,  it  is  plain  that  most 
of  the  earlier  love-plaints  and  elegies,  even  those 
by  Wyatt,  have  little  inherent  form;  the  phrases 
expressing  love  or  grief  might  follow  each  other 
equally  well  in  any  other  order,  since  they  all  mean 
the  same  thing,  and  the  emotional  state  of  the  poet 
is  the  same  throughout.  But  this  point  of  view 
may  be  brought  out  more  easily  in  an  examination 
of  Spenser's  lyrics. 


108  THE   ELIZABETHAN  LYRIC  [cuap. 

The  first,  in  the  eclogue  for  January,1  is  a  love- 
plaint.  Both  theme  and  stanza  might  be  traced 
through  the  miscellanies,  or  the  poet  may  have  found 
a  model  in  Virgil,  perhaps  in  the  tenth  eclogue. 
This  poem,  though  not  the  best  in  the  Calender,  is 
a  good  illustration  of  the  careful  design  that  all 
Spenser's  lyrics  show.  The  shepherd,  in  the  late 
winter,  sings  of  his  hard-hearted  love,  Rosalind. 
The  general  landscape,  the  bare  fields,  make  him 
draw  a  parallel  in  his  own  forlorn  state.  Then, 
finding  a  nearer  image  in  the  trees  above  him,  he 
illustrates  his  grief  by  the  icy  tears  on  the  boughs. 
In  an  image  still  nearer,  he  likens  his  disordered 
thoughts  to  the  uncared-for  flock  about  him,  and 
then  sums  up  the  emotion  of  the  three  images  in 
curses  on  the  day  when  first  he  saw  Rosalind,  the 
cause  of  his  woe.  A  natural  reaction  follows ;  he 
explains  that  he  is  not  entirely  deserted,  for 
Hobbinol  seeks  his  friendship.  But  only  Rosalind 
can  please  him  ;  and  since  neither  he  nor  his  song 
can  win  her,  he  breaks  his  shepherd's  pipe,  and 
gives  over  singing.  It  will  be  seen  from  this  sum- 
mary, that  not  only  is  the  arrangement  of  the 
subject-matter  organic,  but  the  emotional  state  of 
the  poet's  mind  undergoes  a  natural  change,  from 
a  general,  almost  inarticulate,  mood  of  grief,  in 
sympathy  with  the  winter  landscape,  to  a  definite 
mental  resolution,  in  the  breaking  of  the  pipe  and 
the  end  of  the  wooing. 

Works  of  Edmund  Spenser,  p.  446. 


iv.]  OTHER   LYRISTS  109 

The  second  lyric  occurs  in  the  eclogue  for  April,1 
and  is  a  song  in  praise  of  Queen  Elizabeth.  This 
conventional  compliment  is  saved  from  the  usual 
commonplace  only  by  the  genius  of  the  poet.  The 
lyric  is  idyllic,  depending  for  its  structure  upon 
pictures,  as  here  of  the  Muses  ;  in  the  third  stanza 
a  detailed  portrait  of  the  Queen  is  drawn ;  in  the 
ninth,  a  picture  of  the  Graces ;  in  the  tenth,  a 
picture  of  the  "ladies  of  the  lake,"  or  nymphs. 
The  lyric  is  weak  in  the  lack  of  emotional  de- 
velopment, since  the  same  mood  continues  through- 
out ;  but  at  least  the  emotion  is  sustained.  This 
kind  of  lyrical  idyl  is  a  favorite  with  Spenser,  ap- 
pearing in  its  most  elaborate  example  in  the  E])i- 
thalamium.  It  is  worth  remarking  that  Webbe,  in 
his  Discourse  of  English  Poetrie,  1587,  chose  this 
song  to  turn  into  Sapphics.2 

The  next  two  lyrics  are  in  the  eclogue  for 
August.3  The  first  is  the  roundelay,  "  It  fell  upon 
a  holy  eve,"  quoted  already  in  England's  Helicon. 
This  species  of  lyric  seems  to  have  been  subject 
to  but  few  rules  with  the  Elizabethans;  Webbe's 
description  of  it  is  that  it  is  "called  a  round, 
beeing  mutuallie  sung  betweene  two:  one  singeth 
one  verse,  the  other  the  next,  eche  rymeth  with 
himself."4  But  it  appears  in  this  and  other  ex- 
amples, that  there  is  a  difference  between  the  two 

1  Ibid.,  p.  454.  2  Arber's  Reprint,  1895,  p.  82. 

3  Spenser's  Works,  p.  470. 

4  Discourse  of  English  Poetrie,  p.  61. 


110  THE   ELIZABETHAN   LYRIC  [chap. 

voices ;  the  first  carries  the  theme  of  the  song,  and 
keeps  the  strict  measure  of  the  verse,  while  the 
second,  paraphrasing  the  theme  of  his  comrade, 
takes  liberties  with  the  rhythm,  in  this  particular 
example  making  free  use  of  the  syncopated  foot. 
No  matter  how  few  the  syllables,  there  are  four 
accents  to  the  line  ;  as  :  — 

"  Per.  It  fell  upon  a  holy  eve, 

Wil.  Hey,  ho,  hollitlaye  ! 

Per.  When  holy  fathers  wont  to  shrieve ; 

Wil.  Now  gynneth  this  roundelay. 

Per.  Sitting  on  a  hill  so  hye, 

Wil.  Hey,  ho',  the  high  hyll !  "  etc.1 

The  second  lyric  in  this  eclogue  is  notable  only 
for  its  stanza.  It  is  an  example  of  the  sestina,  and 
will  be  considered  later  in  connection  with  that 
complicated  form.2 

In  the  eclogue  for  November  there  is  a  funeral 
song  or  elegy,  which,  in  the  manner  in  which  it 
represents  phases  of  grief,  is  the  first  in  English 
to  follow  the  Greek  pastoral  model,  as  illustrated 
by  the  lament  of  Moschus  for  Bion.  In  the  prefa- 
tory note  it  is  stated  that  Spenser  is  here  imi- 
tating Clement  Marot's  eclogue  on  the  death  of 
Queen  Loys,  and  a  comparison  of  the  two  poems 
would  show  as  much.  But  either  from  taste  or 
from  literary  training,  the  English  poet  is  less 
florid,  speaks  with  more  ease  under  the  mask  of 

1  See  Schelling's  Elizabethan  Lyrics,  1895,  Introduction, 
p.  xlv.  •  See  below,  chap,  ix,  p.  285. 


iv.]  OTHER   LYRISTS  111 

the  pastoral  convention,  and  in  the  ordering  of  his 
subject-matter  is  nearer  to  the  Greek  model.  In 
the  lament  for  Bion,  and  in  the  English  poems  of 
the  same  general  pattern,  such  as  this  elegy  of 
Spenser's,  Milton's  Lycidas,  Shelley's  Adonais  and 
Arnold's  Thyrsis,  there  are  three  stages  in  the 
development  of  the  emotion,  according  as  the  intel- 
lectual element  gradually  combines  with  the  ex- 
pression of  grief.  The  first  part  of  the  elegy  gives 
the  lyric  stimulus  in  stating  the  cause  of  grief, 
for  which  the  usual  formula  is  the  invocation  to 
the  Muse  and  the  shepherds  to  bewail  the  death 
of  their  favorite.  Toward  the  end  of  the  first  sec- 
tion, when  the  expression  of  sorrow,  becoming  more 
subdued  and  cohereDt,  turns  to  the  picture  of 
happier  days  in  the  past,  one  shepherd  or  shep- 
herdess is  mentioned  as  the  special  comrade  and 
mourner  of  the  dead.  Moschus  sings  "Yea,  and 
Galatea  laments  thy  song,  she  whom  once  thou 
wouldst  delight,  as  with  thee  she  sat  by  the  sea- 
banks."1  In  Marot  the  chief  mourner  is  "  Le  grand 
berger,"  the  king  ;  in  Spenser,  it  is  Lobbin  :  — 

"  O  thou  greate  shepheard,  Lobbin,  how  great  is  thy  grief e  ! 
Where  bene  the  nosegay es  that  she  dight  for  thee  ?  "  2 

In  the  second  stage  of  the  Greek  elegy,  the  poet, 
recovering  from  the  first  extreme  grief,  sings  those 
doubts  and  questionings  of  the  justice  of  fate, 
which  seem  native  to  all  human   mourning.     The 

1  Theocritus,  Bion  and  Moschus,  Andrew  Lang,  2d  ed.  1901, 
p.  199.  2  Spenser's  Works,  p.  481. 


112  THE   ELIZABETHAN  LYRIC  [chap. 

questions  usually  are  two :  why  should  the  with- 
ered flower  revive  in  the  spring,  while  man,  once 
dead,  lives  never  again  ?  and,  why  should  this  one 
be  taken,  and  less  worthy  lives  spared  ?  In  the 
words  of  Moschus  —  "Ah  me,  when  the  mallows 
wither  in  the  garden,  and  the  green  parsley,  and 
the  curled  tendrils  of  the  anise,  on  a  later  day  they 
live  again,  and  spring  in  another  year ;  but  we  men, 
we,  the  great  and  mighty,  or  wise,  when  once  we 
have  died,  in  hollow  earth  we  sleep,  gone  down  into 
silence."  ....  "  And  thou  too,  in  the  earth  will 
be  lapped  in  silence,  but  the  nymphs  have  thought 
good  that  the  frogs  should  eternally  sing." 1  These 
questions,  it  needs  small  scholarship  to  know,  are 
conventional  expressions  of  grief,  found  in  all  lit- 
eratures, and  it  is  not  surprising  that  Spenser  uses 
them  both,  following  closely  the  Greek  formula. 

In  the  third  and  last  division  of  this  form  of 
elegy  the  mind  takes  refuge  from  the  problems 
touched  in  the  preceding  part,  in  some  consolation 
of  philosophy  or  religion.  The  original  emotion  of 
grief  is  faint  or  dies  out  altogether  here ;  the  lyric 
mood  ends  in  the  reestablishment  of  the  intellect. 
In  Moschus  the  consolation  is  found  in  the  honor 
that  will  come  to  Bion  in  the  lower  world :  "  Sing 

1  Lang,  p.  201.     Iu  Marot  only  the  first  question  appears:  — 
"  D'ou  vient  cela  qu'on  veoit  l'herbe  secbante 
Retourner  vive  alors  que  Teste  vient, 
Et  la  personne  au  touibeau  trebuschante, 
Tant  grande  soit,  jamais  plus  ne  revient?  " 
—  CEuvres  Completes,  Pierre  Jannet,  Paris,  1873,  ii.  p.  264. 


iv.]  OTHER   LYRISTS  113 

to  the  Maiden  [Persephone]  some  strain  of  Sicily, 
sing  some  sweet  pastoral  lay.  .  .  .  Not  unre- 
warded will  the  singer  be ;  and  as  once  to  Or- 
pheus's  sweet  minstrelsy  she  gave  Eurydice  to 
return  with  him,  even  so  will  she  send  thee  too, 
Bion,  to  the  hills."  x  Spenser  finds  his  consolation 
in  contemplating  the  heavenly  joy  into  which  his 
dead  shepherdess  enters.  Marot  does  the  same 
thing,  and  in  both  poets  the  Christian  paradise 
is  thinly  disguised  under  a  description  of  a  pagan 
bower  of  bliss. 

Spenser  does  not  preserve  these  three  phases  of 
the  elegy  in  the  same  natural  order  as  in  the  Greek 
model,  but  following  Marot's  example,  he  recurs 
at  intervals  to  the  first  mood  of  grief.  The  effect 
is  to  obscure  the  clear  movement  of  the  emotion, 
and  to  make  its  expression  seem  more  diffuse  than 
it  is.  A  more  serious  criticism,  however,  is  that 
the  second  phase,  the  intellectual  questioning,  is 
placed  nearer  the  beginning  than  the  end  of  the 
lyric.  This  necessitates  a  break  in  the  emotion, 
which  seems  out  of  keeping  with  the  natural 
course  of  such  grief. 

This  elegy  is  considered  at  length,  and  compared 

1  Lang,  p.  202.    In  Marot  the  equivalent  passage  is:  — 
"  Elle  est  au  Champs  Elisiens  receue, 
Hors  des  travaulx  de  ce  monde  esplore. 
La  oil  elle  est  n'y  a  rien  deflore ; 
Jamais  le  jour  et  les  plaisirs  n'y  meurent; 
Jamais  n'y  meurt  le  vert  bien  colore, 
Ne  eeulx  avec  qui  la  dedans  demeurent." 
—  Jannet,  ii.  p.  266. 


114  THE   ELIZABETHAN   LYRIC  [chap. 

with  the  more  famous  Greek  dirge,  because  it  is 
the  first  example  in  English  of  this  type  of  funeral 
song,  which  later  reappears  so  splendidly  in  the 
examples  already  mentioned.  Its  advance  over 
the  "epitaphs"  of  the  miscellanies  is  obvious. 
They  had  only  the  first  and  third  parts  of  the 
elegy,  the  expression  of  grief  and  the  consolation, 
without  any  transition,  and  sometimes  they 
omitted  the  element  of  consolation.  But  a  more 
important  difference,  in  the  light  of  later  elegies, 
is  the  convention  of  beauty  which  the  Greek  form, 
as  practised  by  Marot  and  Spenser,  introduced. 
The  subject  of  the  elegy  is  exalted  to  a  height  of 
ideal  beauty,  and  all  thoughts  of  him  are  clothed 
in  images  drawn  from  the  lovelier  aspects  of 
nature.  The  frailty  of  life,  for  example,  which 
in  the  miscellany  epitaphs  is  formulated  into  "  all 
flesh  is  as  grass,"  or  variations  of  that  truism,  is 
now  expressed  in  the  kindred  but  more  beautiful 
convention :  — 

"  Whence  is  it,  that  the  flouret  of  the  field  doth  fade, 
And  lyeth  buryed  long  in  Winters  bale  ; 
Yet,  soone  as  spring  his  mantle  hath  displayde, 
It  noureth  fresh,  as  it  should  never  fayle  ? 
But  thing  on  earth  that  is  of  most  availe, 
As  vertues  branch  and  beauties  budde, 
Reliven  not  for  any  good."  J 

The  mere  fact  that  the  poet  questions,  instead  of 
dogmatizing,  as  in  the  miscellanies,  shows  a  truer 
dramatic  conception  of  the  mood  of  grief. 
1  Spenser's  Works,  p.  481. 


iv.]  OTHER   LYRISTS  115 

In  the  use  of  refrains  in  this  elegy,  Spenser  was 
undoubtedly  following  his  own  taste,  but  had  he 
needed  a  model,  he  might  have  found  one  in  Mos- 
chus.  Marot  in  his  eclogue  has  but  an  approxi- 
mation to  a  refrain. 

The  last  song  in  the  Calender  is  found  in  the 
eclogue  for  December.1  In  intention  it  is  a  love- 
plaint  ;  the  poet  bids  farewell  to  Rosalind,  who  will 
have  no  pity  on  him.  A  certain  interest  attaches 
to  the  introduction  of  the  familiar  comparison  of 
life  to  the  four  seasons.  The  entire  song  is  de- 
voted to  the  celebration  of  this  figure,  which  is 
too  inevitable  to  need  further  comment. 

Undoubtedly  the  charm  of  the  Shepheards  Cal- 
ender is  the  presence  in  it  of  great  poetic  genius 
—  a  thing  not  to  be  analyzed  by  historians  or 
critics.  But  so  far  as  elusive  qualities  can  be 
traced,  the  distinction  of  these  lyrics  is  the  very 
considerable  art  with  which  they  are  written. 
They  are  taken  entirely  out  of  the  realm  of  song 
in  its  practical  sense,  and  are  made  doubly  ''lit- 
erary "  by  the  suggestions  of  classic  form  which 
have  been  noticed.  Spenser,  like  the  Greeks, 
conceives  of  the  lyric  as  an  emotional  organism, 
with  a  beginning,  middle,  and  end;  and  in  his 
external  formulas  he  returns,  as  has  been  said,  to 
that  classic  habit  of  mind  which  expressed  even  the 
sorrowful  experiences  of  life  in  terms  of  beauty. 

The  pastoral  vein,  introduced  so  auspiciously  in 
l  Ibid.,  p.  484. 


116  THE   ELIZABETHAN   LYRIC  [chap. 

the  Shepheards  Calender,  dominates  the  literature 
of  the  ten  years  from  1580  to  1590,  reaching  its 
most  highly  wrought  expression  in  the  latter  year, 
in  Sidney's  Arcadia,  During  this  decade  ap- 
peared  the  romances  of  Kobert  Greene  and  Thomas 
Lodge,  some  of  which  were  enriched  with  inciden- 
tal lyrics.  Those  in  Greene's  early  romances  are 
of  very  slight  merit,  and  class  themselves  with 
examples  already  seen  in  the  miscellanies.  For 
example,  in  Arbasto,  1584,  occurs  a  song  on 
fortune :  — 

"  AVhereat  erewhile  I  wept,  I  laugh, 

That  which  I  feared  I  now  despise,"  etc.1 

The  subject  is  developed  in  a  series  of  such  con- 
trasted verses  to  show  the  evolutions  of  fortune's 
wheel.  In  Penelopes  Web,  1587,  there  is  a  song  in 
praise  of  content,-  and  one  in  praise  of  the  "mean 
estate,"  —  "  The  stately  state  that  wise  men  count 
their  good."3  A  third  lyric  is  devoted  to  a  warn- 
ing against  ambition.4  These  four  poems  are 
typical  of  Greene's  first  style.  Like  the  early  mis- 
cellany lyrics,  they  find  their  inspiration  in  rather 
abstract  themes,  their  purpose  is  largely  moral,  and 
the  execution  is  extremely  simple. 

Greene's  second  style,  if  a  further  division  of  his 
work  be  not  considered  too  subtle,  is  illustrated  by 
three  songs  in  Perymedes  the  Blacksmith,  1588.  In 
technic  and  metrical  achievement  they  are  little  in 

i  Works,  in  The  Huth  Library,  iii.  p.  180.      s  Ibid.,  v.  p.  179. 
2  Ibid.,  v.  p.  165.  ■*  Ibid.,  v.  p.  188. 


iv.]  OTHER   LYRISTS  117 

advance  of  the  first  group ;  they  employ  no  other 
stanza,  for  example,  than  the  scheme  ababcc.  But 
the  subject-matter  is  enriched  in  all  three  lyrics  by 
the  ornament  of  classical  legends  and  myths  —  one 
phase  of  the  Kenascence  influence  from  the  Conti- 
nent. The  first  deals  with  the  story  of  Venus  and 
Adonis,  treated  partly  as  an  idyl,  partly  as  a  lyric.1 
The  lyric  tone  is  helped  by  the  use  of  the  last  line 
in  each  stanza  as  a  refrain.  In  this  song  a  sensual 
view  of  life  is  presented,  which  is  contradicted  in 
the  companion-song,  "The  syron  Venus  nourist  in 
hir  lap,"  in  a  very  moral,  if  not  so  convincing, 
manner.  This  second  song  fits  well  with  the  re- 
pentant side  of  Greene,  as  it  appears  in  the  Groats- 
worth  of  Wit ;  it  also  echoes  the  old  gnomic  or 
moral  songs,  as  in  this  stanza :  — 

"  If  crooked  age  accounteth  youth  his  spring, 
The  spring,  the  fairest  season  of  the  year, 
Enriched  with  flowers  and  sweets,  and  many  a  thing, 
That  fair  and  gorgeous  to  the  eyes  appear  ; 
It  fits  that  youth,  the  spring  of  man,  should  be 
Riched  with  such  flowers  as  virtue  yieldeth  thee."2 

The  third  song  is  essentially  a  pastourelle,  a  de- 
scription of  a  wooing  between  shepherd  and  shep- 
herdess. The  only  distinguishing  feature  in  the 
treatment  of  the  traditional  theme  is  that  the  debat, 
or  argument,  is  brief;  the  interest  being  centred 
in  the  charm  and  humor  of  the  characters,  for 
which  the  reader  is  prepared  by  idyllic  descrip- 

i  Ibid.,  vii.  p.  88.  2  Ibid.,  vii.  p.  89. 


118  THE   ELIZABETHAN   LYRIC  [chap. 

tions  in  the  early  stanzas.  The  lyric  appeals 
simply  to  the  delight  in  pastoral  poetry ;  there  is 
no  dramatic  struggle  in  the  debat,  since  both  the 
lovers  were  ready  to  plight  their  troth. 

"This  love  began  and  ended  both  in  one  ; 
Phillis  was  loved,  and  she  loved  Coridon."  * 

In  the  same  romance  two  other  songs  should  be 
mentioned,  not  for  their  literary  merit,  which  is 
slight,  but  because  they  are  written  in  blank  verse. 
With  the  exception  of  some  passages  in  the  drama, 
blank  verse  lyrics  are  rare  in  Elizabeth's  time,  and 
even  these  two  examples  concede  so  much  to  rime 
as  to  end  in  a  couplet.2 

Of  Greene's  third  style  the  best  illustrations  are 
the  songs  in  Menaphon,  1589,  These  are  love-songs, 
either  plaints  or  praises,  of  which  the  subject-matter 
is  not  particularly  new.  The  external  form,  how- 
ever, shows  the  arrival  of  the  period  of  elaborate 
stanzas,  to  be  further  represented  by  Lodge  and 
Sidney  in  their  romances.  The  first  good  illustra- 
tion of  this  type  in  Menaphon,  is  the  lyric,  — 

"Some  say  Love, 
Foolish  Love, 
Doth  rule  and  govern  all  the  gods,"  etc.8 

The  song,  "  Weep  not,  my  wanton,  smile  upon  my 
knee,"  *  in  the  same  romance,  is  a  new  phase  of  the 

1  Works,  in  The  Huth  Library,  vii.  p.  93. 

2  Ibid.,  vii.  pp.77,  79. 

3  Bullen,  Songs  from  the  Dramatists,  1901,  p.  237. 

*  Ibid.,  p.  238. 


iv.]  OTHER   LYRISTS  119 

lullaby ;  the  infant  is  evidently  the  child  of  an 
illicit  love.  On  this  dark-toned  background,  which 
from  this  time  is  often  used  to  heighten  the  effect 
of  such  slumber-songs,  the  lullaby  departs  definitely 
from  its  old  association  with  the  Christ-child,  and 
loses  the  purity  which  that  association  had  given 
it  in  the  Middle  English  lyric. 

Besides  these  three  styles  of  song,  Greene  sev- 
eral times  revived  the  old  combination  of  French 
and  English  verses.  In  Never  too  Late,  1590,  the 
complaint  of  Venus  to  Adonis,  "  Sweet  Adon,  dar- 
est  not  glance  thine  eye,"1  is  the  best  example. 
The  first  and  third  lines  carry  on  the  lyric ;  the 
second,  fourth,  fifth,  and  sixth  are  constant  refrains 
in  every  stanza :  — 

"  See  how  sad  thy  Venus  lies,  — 
N'oserez  vous,  mon  bel  ami  ?  — 
Love  in  heart,  and  tears  in  eyes  ; 
Je  vous  en  prie,  pity  me  ; 
N'oserez  vous,  mon  bel,  mon  bel, 
N'oserez  vous,  mon  bel  ami  ?"  2 

Mullidor's  "  madrigal,"  in  Francesco's  Fortunes,3 
1590,  is  another  illustration  of  the  same  device ; 
the  French  lines,  however,  are  fewer  and  the  rhythm 
is  anapestic. 

Lodge's  lyrics  show  less  striving  for  stanzaic 
effect  than  Greene's,  but  they  are  richer  and  more 
sonorous  in  tone.  The  difference  may  largely  be 
ascribed  to  the  individual  genius  of  each,  but  Lodge 

i  Ibid.,  p.  247.  2  Ibid.,  p.  247.  8  Ibid.,  p.  255. 


120  THE   ELIZABETHAN   LYRIC  [chap. 

seems  to  have  gained  something  from  wide  reading 
in  Italian  and  French  poetry.     In  A  Margarite  of 

America,  1589,  he  translates  several  Italian  and 
French  sonnets,  giving  the  names  of  the  authors.1 
His  indebtedness  to  Desportes  takes  the  form  of 
direct  translation,  as  in  the  lyric,  "  The  earth  late 
choked  with  showers,"  from  Scylla's  Metamorphosis, 
1589,2  the  song,  "  First  shall  the  heaven  want  starry 
light,"  from  Rosalind,  1590,3  and  "Turn  I  my  looks 
unto  the  skies,"  from  the  same  romance.4  The  in- 
fluence of  Ronsard  is  hinted  at  by  many  critics, 
but  can  hardly  be  traced  directly.  If  it  exists  at 
all,  it  is  hidden  in  the  spirit  of  Lodge's  work. 

The  first  lyric  that  shows  Lodge's  distinctive 
quality  is  Rosalind's  madrigal,  "  Love  in  my  bosom 
like  a  bee."5  This  song  makes  its  appeal  entirely 
through  sensuous  images,  not  derived,  like  Greene's, 
from  classical  tales,  such  as  that  of  Venus  and 
Adonis,  but  stimulated  directly  in  the  poem  by 
the  constant  presence  of  physical  beauty,  as  if  the 
poet  were  describing  a  luxurious  painting  by  Titian 
or  his  school.6 

The  companion  poem  to  this  is  the  description  of 
Rosalind  in  the  same  romance,  "  Like  to  the  clear  in 

1  A  Margarite  of  America,  J.  O.  Halliwell,  1859,  p.  112  55. 

2  Bullen,  p.  2(54. 
s  Ibid.,  p.  2G7. 

4  Ibid.,  p.  270.    For  the  French  original,  see  note,  p.  297. 

s  Ibid.,  p.  2(55. 

6  The  kinship  of  Lodge's  word-painting  with  contemporary 
Italian  art  is  admirahly  suggested  hy  Professor  Palgrave  in 
the  Golden  Treasury,  2d  ed.  1894,  p.  351. 


iv.]  OTHER   LYRISTS  121 

highest  sphere,  etc." !  This  lyric  follows  the  familiar 
method  of  such  descriptions,  giving  a  systematic 
inventory  of  the  lady's  charms  from  head  to  foot ; 
but  it  differs  from  the  innumerable  other  examples  in 
its  great  wealth  of  color,  its  lyric  enthusiasm,  and  a 
certain  good  taste  and  restraint.  If  the  favor  of 
anthologists  be  proof  of  merit,  this  lyric  is  the  best 
illustration  of  its  type  in  Elizabethan  poetry. 

In  these  songs,  Lodge  seems  to  have  found  the 
happy  medium  in  combinations  of  long  and  short 
lines  —  a  rare  achievement  with  his  contemporaries. 
It  has  been  observed  before  that  the  simpler  the 
stanza  the  nearer  is  the  lyric  to  practical  song ; 
and  the  greater  the  variations  in  length  of  verse, 
the  more  slowly  the  song  will  move  and  the  less 
like  winged  words.  Lodge  varies  the  line  often, 
but  never  to  a  marked  degree,  so  that  the  rhythm 
escapes  monotony  without  losing  speed. 

With  Lodge  and  Greene  should  be  mentioned 
Nicholas  Breton,  a  writer  of  romances  highly 
praised  by  his  contemporaries,  but  now  somewhat 
lacking  in  distinction.  In  his  Flourish  upon  Fancy, 
1577,  there  is  a  carol,  "Now  Christmas  draweth 
near,"2  which  continues  the  traditional  description 
of  English  Christmas  customs.  The  Arbour  of 
Amorous  Devices,  1593,  contains  a  lullaby,  "Come, 


1  Complete  Works,  printed  for  the  Hunterian  Club,  1883,  i. 
p.  64. 

2  Lyrics  from  Elizabethan  Romances,  A.  H.  Bullen,  1890, 
p.  89. 


122  THE   ELIZABETHAN   LYRIC  [chap. 

little  babe,  come,  silly  soul,"1  which  in  subject  ap- 
pears to  imitate  Greene's  "Weep  not,  my  wanton," 
published  four  years  earlier.  Breton  always  in- 
clined to  the  simple  stanzas  and  long,  narrative 
manner  of  the  miscellanies.  His  lyrics  are  too 
diffuse.  This  trait  is  illustrated  by  one  of  his  last 
and  best  songs,  "  I  would  I  had  as  much  as  might 
be  had,"  from  I  ivould  and  I  would  not,  1614.2 

The  most  interesting  of  the  romances,  from  the 
historical  standpoint,  is  Sidney's  Arcadia,  1590. 
In  subjects  and  metrical  experiments  it  is  the 
most  ambitious,  but  it  contains  few  successful 
lyrics.  Among  the  usual  love-themes,  there  are 
two  descriptions  of  a  lover's  mistress,  which  may 
be  compared  with  Lodge's  Rosalind,  and  much 
to  the  latter's  advantage.  The  first  is  the  short 
lyric  in  alternate  alexandrines  and  septenaries,  in 
praise  of  Mopsa  —  a  conventional  enumeration  of 
feminine  charms,  without  much  lyric  feeling.3 
The  second,  however,  is  one  of  the  important  songs 
in  the  book,  the  description  of  Philocleia.4  It  is 
an  excellent  illustration  of  the  bad  taste  that 
seems  to  have  accompanied  this  theme  wherever  it 
appeared.  The  description  is  very  minute,  and 
with  good  reason  the  reader  feels  that  the  poet  had 
a  definite  model  before  him  ;  for  in  the  romance  it 
is  Philocleia's  lover   who  sings  the   song,   having 

1  Lyrics  from  Elizabethan  Romances,  p.  92. 

2  Ibid.,]).  117. 

3  The  Countesse  of  Pembroke's  Arcadia,  1627,  p.  11. 
*  Ibid.,  p.  139. 


iv.]  OTHER  LYRISTS  123 

surreptitiously  caught  sight  of  his  lady  at  her  bath. 
The  uuchivalrous  device  by  which  this  situation  is 
achieved  —  the  disguise  of  the  lover  as  a  waiting- 
maid  —  detracts  from  the  charm  of  the  song,  and 
the  beauty  seems  tainted.  In  other  respects,  also, 
in  the  completeness  of  the  details  and  the  absence 
of  any  such  reverence  as  exalted  the  picture  of 
Rosalind,  Sidney's  poem  seems  far  inferior  in  taste 
to  Lodge's. 

There  is  one  epithalamium  in  the  romance.  It 
does  not  follow  classical  models  beyond  the  use 
of  a  refrain.1  It  is  simply  an  expression  of 
good  wishes  for  the  married  couple,  without  any 
such  order  or  sequence  as  is  found  in  Spenser's 
Epithalamium. 

It  is  significant  that  of  all  the  lyrics  in  the  Arca- 
dia, only  the  song,  "  My  true  love  hath  my  heart," 2 
has  been  remembered  in  our  literature.  The  songs 
as  a  whole  represent  the  experimental  side  of  Sid- 
ney's art ;  and  while  noteworthy  for  their  wide 
range  of  form,  they  are  singularly  lacking  in  lyric 
emotion  or  any  mark  of  genuineness.  It  is  as  the 
richest  of  the  romances  that  the  Arcadia  is  known. 
Sidney's  fame  as  a  lyrist,  on  the  other  hand,  rests 
on  the  songs  and  sonnets  of  Astrophel  and  Stella. 
This  book,  published  in  1591,  gave  the  definite 
impulse  to  sonnet  writing  which  characterized  this 
next  decade. 

1  Ibid.,  p.  388.  2  zbid.,  p.  357. 


CHAPTER  V 

THE   SONNET-SERIES 


The  sonnet,  in  both  the  Italian  and  the  English 
forms,  became  naturalized  in  English  literature  by 
the  practice  of  Wyatt  and  Surrey.  Their  chief 
model  was  Petrarch,  and  they  followed  him  in  con- 
fining the  use  of  the  sonnet  to  love-plaints  or  to 
very  personal  expressions.  It  will  be  remembered 
that  in  TotteVs  Miscellany,  the  lyrics  devoted  to  the 
emotions  of  the  typical  lover  are  usually  in  the 
"  poulter's  measure,"  and  tend  to  class  themselves 
together.  On  the  other  hand  the  sonnets,  though 
devoted  to  the  same  subject,  are  so  far  new  to  Eng- 
lish literature  that  each  example  remains  distinct. 
When  the  general  use  of  the  long  septenaries  was 
declining,  and  the  tendency  toward  collections 
of  lyrics  was  taking  an  artistic  form,  as  in  the 
Shepheards  Calender,  it  was  but  natural  that  the 
sonnet  should  reappear  in  its  original  Petrarchan 
use,  as  the  unit  in  an  autobiographical  series. 

This  use  of  the  sonnet,  which  characterizes  the 
years  from  1590  to  1G00,  was  not  a  matter  of  sud- 
den innovation,  but  one  of  growth.  Of  the  few  steps 
124 


chap,  v.]  THE   SONNET-SERIES  125 

in  the  development  that  are  now  visible  to  us,  the 
principal  illustration  is  Thomas  Watson's  Hekatom- 
pathia,  or  Passionate  Centime  of  Love,  printed  in 
1582.1  This  is  a  collection  of  a  hundred  "  passions," 
or  themes  of  love.  They  are  supposed  to  show  the 
different  sufferings  of  one  lover,  and  in  that  respect, 
as  well  as  in  the  verse-form,  they  have  a  certain 
unity.  But  so  far  are  they  removed  from  any 
narrative  continuity,  such  as  is  imposed  upon  Shak- 
spere's  sonnets,  or  from  any  basis  of  fact,  that  they 
are  collected  almost  at  haphazard,  one  of  them  as 
an  after-thought,2  and  the  poet  admits  in  the  preface 
that  all  his  love-passions  are  imaginary.3  In  these 
traits  the  collection  probably  resembles  most  of  the 
later  sequences.  Its  early  date  is  responsible  for 
the  use  of  a  familiar  stanza  instead  of  the  sonnet- 
form. 

For  the  period  in  which  they  appeared,  these 
lyrics  were  felt  to  be  extremely  scholarly,  so  that 
the  author,  or  the  editor,  thought  it  necessary  to 
prefix  a  commentary  to  each  poem.  This  device  is 
akin  to  the  long  narrative  titles  in  the  miscellanies, 
but  differs  from  them  in  supplying  true  commen- 
taries, and  not  prose  introductions  to  the  lyrics.  A 
nearer  parallel  is  the  use  of  notes  in  the  Shepheards 

i  Arber  Reprint,  1895. 

2  See  Introduction  to  No.  xlv.  p.  81. 

8  Ibid.,  p.  27.  "Yet  for  this  once  I  hope  that  thou  wilt  in 
respect  of  my  travaile  in  penning  these  love  passions,  or  for 
pitie  of  my  paines  in  suffering  them  (although  but  supposed) 
.  .  .  etc." 


126  THE   ELIZABETHAN   LYKIC  [chap. 

Calender,  and,  for  a  more  illustrious  example,  the 
explanatory  commentaries  to  the  various  lyrics  in 
the  Vita  Nuova.  Besides  a  summary  of  the  poem, 
Watson's  introductions  contain  frank  acknowledg- 
ments of  indebtedness  to  other  poets ;  so  that  each 
borrowed  theme  can  be  readily  traced,  and  the  wide 
range  of  Watson's  reading  appreciated.  Petrarch 
is  his  chief  source  of  inspiration,  then  Ronsard ; 
after  them,  the  Latin  poems  of  Stephanus  For- 
catulus,  extracts  from  Sophocles,  Theocritus,  and 
Horace,  and  the  poems  of  Seraphini,  Girolamo 
Parabosco,  and  other  Italian  lyrists.  Porty-one  of 
the  hundred  lyrics  are  thus  confessed  to  be  para- 
phrases. 

The  subject-matter  falls  into  two  very  general 
classes.  The  first  seventy-eight  poems  deal  with 
the  "true  estate  and  perturbations"  of  love;  the 
rest  are  printed  under  the  emblem  "My  love  is 
past,"  and  express  the  renunciation  of  love.1  In 
these  two  classes  the  traditional  themes  are  all 
found,  though  their  treatment  is  inclined  to  be 
either  pedantic  or  fantastic.  The  poet  delights  in 
such  propositions  as  that  he  "  abideth  more  unrest  and 
hurt  for  his  beloved,  than  ever  did  Leander  for  his 
Hero," 2  or  "  he  doubteth  lest  those  flames,  wherein 
his  soule  continually  burneth,  shall  make  Charon 
afraid  to  grant  him  passage  over  the  lake  of  Stix,  by 
reason,  his  old  withered  boat  is  apt  to  take  fire."  3 

1  See  Introduction  to  No.  lxxix.  p.  115.  3  Ibid.,  p.  85. 

2  Ibid.,  p.  66. 


v.]  THE   SONNET-SERIES  127 

There  are  no  autobiographical  incidents  whatever 
in  the  series. 

This  collection  is  valuable  chiefly  as  an  indication 
of  the  new  fashion  at  hand.  As  poetry,  judged  by 
itself,  it  has  little  claim  on  immortality.  It  is  of 
the  quality  of  the  poorer  miscellany  poems,  though 
the  manner  is  that  of  a  trained  rhetorician.  The 
similarity  to  the  miscellany  verse  appears  also  in 
fantastic  tricks  of  style,  as  in  the  anagram-lyric,  in 
which  the  first  letters  form  the  quotation,  Amor 
me  pungit  et  urit.1  There  is  also  an  echo-sonnet,  in 
which  the  final  phrase  of  each  sentence  is  repeated:  — 

Author.    "  In  all  this  world  I  thinke  none  love's  but  I. 
Echo.  None  love's  but  I.     Author.   Thou  foolish  tattling 

ghest, 
in  this  thou  telst  a  lie.     Echo.   Thou  telst  a  lie," 

etc.2 

One  song  is  constructed  upon  the  rhetorical  prin- 
ciple called  by  the  commentator  reduplicatio,  accord- 
ing to  which  every  clause  begins  with  some  word 
or  phrase  in  the  end  of  the  preceding  clause.3  This 
method  remains  a  favorite  device  of  style  with  the 
sonneteers.  Watson's  most  absurd  exhibition  of 
scholasticism,  however,  is  the  Pasquine  Piller  erected 
in  the  Despite  of  Love*  a  lyric  printed  in  the  shape 
of  a  column,  to  be  read  only  with  the  greatest  diffi- 
culty, but  as  a  compensation,  following  out  a  mathe- 
matical order  in  the  words,  upon  which  the  author 
evidently  prided  himself.     Such  technical  curiosi- 

lI6id.,p.  88.      2  Ibid.,  p.  61.     » /bid.,  p.  77.     4  Ibid.,  p.  117. 


128  THE   ELIZABETHAN   LYRIC  [chap. 

ties  are  most  familiar  to  the  reader  of  English 
literature  in  the  works  of  the  seventeenth  century 
fantastic  school,  of  whom,  in  this  one  respect,  Wat- 
son should  be  considered  a  forerunner. 

The  general  structure  of  this  song-series,  it  should 
be  remembered,  was  not  that  of  continuous  sub- 
ject-matter ;  its  only  unity  consisted  in  the  general 
theme  of  love,  and  in  the  single  verse-form  em- 
ployed. The  same  criticism  is  true  of  the  first  real 
sonnet-series,  Henry  Constable's  Spiritual  Sonnettes 
to  the  Honour  of  God  and  Hys  Sayntes,1  1591. 
These  seventeen  sonnets,  To  God  the  Father,  To  the 
Blessed  Sacrament,  To  Our  Blessed  Lady,  etc.,  have 
no  other  connection  but  the  general  theological 
tone  of  the  subjects.  It  was  the  fashion  to  write 
religious  occasional  poems,  and  to  pretend  to  think 
more  of  such  performances  than  of  secular  verses, 
but  these  sonnets  are  not  the  most  important  of 
Constable's  work.  They  are  chiefly  remarkable  for 
the  employment  throughout  of  the  Petrarchan  form, 
and  for  using  that  form  for  other  themes  than 
those  of  love. 

This  modest  little  collection  is  completely  over- 
shadowed by  Astrophel  and  Stella,2  published  the 
same  year,  a  sonnet-series  that  is  thought  to  have 
given  the  impulse  and  form  to  the  numerous  later 
collections.  It  was  the  most  celebrated  book  of  the 
sonnet  period,  and  even   now  gives  way  only  to 

1  The  Sonnets  and  Other  Poems  of  Henry  Constable,  W.  C. 
Hazlitt,  1859,  p.  49  sq.  '2  Arber's  English  Garner,  i. 


v.]  THE   SONNET-SERIES  129 

Shakspere's.  The  sonnets  fall  into  two  groups, 
those  having  an  autobiographical  intention,  and 
those  dealing  with  conventional  themes,  more  or 
less  linked  with  the  other  class,  such  as  the  sonnet 
to  the  moon,  or  the  one  to  sleep.  From  the  auto- 
biographical group,  a  slight  sequence  of  action  can 
be  arranged,  which  fits  well  with  the  known  facts 
of  Sidney's  love  affairs.  The  first  eighty-five  son- 
nets deal  with  the  wooing  of  Stella,  who  is  married ; 
the  rest  tell  how  the  poet  left  her  from  a  sense  of 
honor,  although  she  loved  him,  and  how  he  over- 
came his  passion  for  her.  The  basis  in  fact  for 
this  seems  to  be  that  Stella,  the  Lady  Penelope 
Devereux,  was  at  some  time  proposed  as  a  bride 
for  Sidney,  but  was  married  by  her  friends,  against 
her  will,  to  Lord  Rich.  She  was  very  unhappy  in 
her  marriage,  and  finally,  after  Sidney's  death, 
obtained  a  divorce.  Sidney  does  not  appear  to 
have  cared  much  for  her  until  after  she  was  mar- 
ried ;  then,  when  it  was  too  late,  he  came  to  appre- 
ciate her  charms,  and  addressed  the  sonnets  to  her. 
That  she  loved  him  is  made  probable  by  the  cruel 
treatment  she  received  from  her  husband,  and  by 
the  fact  that  after  Sidney's  death  she  was  addressed 
by  complimentary  poets  as  his  love  —  a  liberty  they 
could  hardly  have  taken  had  it  displeased  her.1 


1  For  general  discussions  of  this  subject,  cf.  Arber's  Eng- 
lish Garner,  i.  p.  407  sq.;  Hubert  Hall's  Society  in  the  Eliza- 
bethan Age,  pp.  90-91 ;  and  Dr.  Grosart's  Introduction,  Poems 
of  Sidnetj,  1877. 


130  THE    ELIZABETHAN   LYRIC  [chap. 

Perhaps  because  Sidney  did  not  intend  to  publish 
the  sonnets,  they  are  more  intimate  in  tone  and 
appear  more  genuine  than  those  of  Petrarch  or  his 
French  imitators ;  to  Sidney's  contemporaries,  As- 
trophel  and  Stella  seemed  a  revelation  of  the  poet's 
soul.  He  puts  forth  his  claim  to  sincerity  in  the 
famous  phrase  of  the  first  sonnet,  "  look  in  thy 
heart  and  write," l  and  recurs  to  it  several  times.2 
As  the  series  progresses,  however,  the  claim  relapses 
into  the  conventional  compliment  that  he  writes 
not  for  fame,  but  because  her  beauty  moves  the 
pen  —  a  theme  that  had  helped  on  many  a  French 
sonneteer. 

Next  to  this  theme  of  the  source  of  his  inspira- 
tion, Sidney  takes  up  the  conflict  between  love  and 
virtue.  In  view  of  the  persistence  with  which  it 
haunts  him,3  this  motive  can  be  explained  only  by 
the  theory  that  Lady  Penelope  was  already  married. 
Fourteen  sonnets  are  devoted  entirely  to  this  theme, 
and  it  appears  at  times  in  others.  According  to 
the  sonnets,  Stella  encouraged  her  lover  to  be  true 
to  his  nobler  self,  and  would  pardon  not  even  the 
one  kiss  he  stole  when  she  was  asleep.* 

In  the  first  part  of  the  series,  there  are  several 
descriptions  of  Stella,  from  which  it  would  appear 
that  she  had  black  eyes.5  The  other  details  of  her 
beauty,  fair  hair,  white  cheeks,  red  lips,  are   not 

1  English  Garner,  i.  p.  503.  4  No.  lxxiii. 

2  Cf .  Nos.  iii,  xv,  liv,  xc,  etc.  6  No.  vii. 
8  Cf.  Nos.  iv,  v,  x,  xiv,  xviii,  xxi,  etc. 


v.]  THE   SONNET-SERIES  131 

distinctive.  These  latter  charms  were  familiar 
through  the  Italian  and  French  lyrics ;  after 
Sidney,  however,  the  English  sonneteers  were  par- 
tial to  the  black  eyes. 

Besides  the  several  disagreeable  sonnets  satiriz- 
ing Lord  Bich,1  the  most  important  lyrics  in  the  first 
part  of  the  series  are  those  built  on  images  from 
the  profession  of  arms.  The  tournament,2  the 
siege,3  skill  with  the  quarter-staff,4  and  horseman- 
ship,5 all  are  vividly  pictured.  Probably  the  most 
charming  of  this  class,  and  the  best  known,  is  the 
sonnet  to  the  roadway  that  leads  to  Stella :  — 

"  Highway,  since  you  my  chief  Parnassus  be."  6 

The  last  part  of  the  series,  in  which  Astrophel 
leaves  Stella  at  her  request,  though  she  loves 
him  — 

"  Stella  !  while  now,  by  honour's  cruel  might, 
I  am  from  you,"7 

has  not  the  interest  of  the  first  part,  especially  as 
the  series  first  was  printed.  With  the  addition  of 
the  sonnets  recovered  from  the  manuscripts,  above 
all  the  noble  sonnet  that  now  ends  the  series  in 
some  editions, — 

"Leave  me,  O  love  !  which  readiest  but  to  dust," 

the  poet's  final  state  of  mind  is  made  clearer  and 
more  satisfactory. 


1  Nos.  xxiv,  xxxviii,  etc. 

4  No.  liii. 

6  No.  lxxxiv, 

2  No.  xli. 

5  No.  xlix. 

7  No.  xci. 

8  No.  xii. 

132  THE    ELIZABETHAN    LYRIC  [chap. 

Among  the  non-biographical  sonnets,  the  address 
to  the  moon 1  and  the  prayer  to  sleep 2  are  the  best 
known.  Introduced  merely  for  their  own  sake,  and 
usually  translated  or  borrowed  from  French  son- 
nets, this  decorative  class  of  lyrics  is  nevertheless 
bound  into  the  series  both  by  the  turns  of  love- 
compliments  introduced  at  the  end,  and  by  Sidney's 
personality,  which  is  as  discernible  in  these  as  it  is 
in  the  biographical  sonnets.  The  full  scope  of 
Sidney's  art  is  not  grasped  until  "we  realize  with 
what  precision  he  has  made  these  decorative  poems 
fit  the  mood  of  the  lover  at  the  stage  of  the  sequence 
in  which  they  are  introduced.  It  is  by  this  dra- 
matic arrangement  of  his  themes  that  he  secures  the 
most  subtle  unity  of  the  lyrics,  and  in  this  success 
he  seems  to  be  a  pioneer.  It  wrill  be  profitable  to 
note  how  far  his  English  successors  aim  for  this 
structural  skill,  or  attain  to  it. 

At  intervals  among  the  sonnets  of  Astrophel  and 
Stella  Sidney  interpolated  eleven  songs.  In  general 
these  lyrics  are  considered  inferior  to  the  sonnets, 
with  two  notable  exceptions.  If  we  are  to  trust 
the  autobiographical  interpretation  of  the  series, 
the  eighth  song  gives  explicitly  the  reasons  why 
Stella  rejects  her  suitor,  and  the  high  ideal  of  honor 
she  points  out  for  him.  The  meter,  as  well  as  the 
subject,  deserves  attention.  It  is  the  first  important 
example  of  the  trochaic  tetrapody  catalectic,  though 
occasional  glimpses  of  it  have  already  been  noted:  — 
1  No.  xxxi.  2  No.  xxxix. 


v.]  THE   SONNET-SERIES  133 

"  If  to  secret  of  my  heart, 

I  do  any  wish  impart, 

Where  thou  art  not  foremost  placed, 

Be  both  wish  and  I  defaced. 

****** 
"  Trust  me,  while  I  thee  deny, 

In  myself  the  smart  I  try. 

Tyrant  Honour  doth  thus  use  thee. 

Stella's  self  might  not  refuse  thee  ! "  * 

The  other  song,  remembered  for  its  literary 
beauty  alone,  is  the  first :  — 

"  Doubt  you  to  whom  my  Muse  these  notes  intendeth  ; 
Which  now  my  breast  o'ercharged  with  music  lendeth  ? 
To  you  !  to  you  !  all  song  of  praise  is  due : 
Only  in  you,  my  song  begins  and  endeth. 

"  Who  hath  the  eyes  which  marry  State  with  Pleasure  ? 
Who  keeps  the  key  of  Nature:s  chief  est  treasure  ? 
To  you  !  to  you  !  all  song  of  praise  is  due : 
Only  for  you,  the  heaven  forgot  all  measure."  2 

This  is  a  fair  illustration  of  those  Elizabethan 
lyrics  which,  employing  conscious  effects  of  art, 
still  keep  some  quality  of  spontaneous  song.  It  is 
purely  an  art-lyric ;  the  verbal  music  is  sufficient 
of  itself.  It  recalls  the  old  miscellany  poetry  only 
in  the  device  of  questions  and  answers,  which  was 
noticed  in  Grimald,  and  is  here  used  for  every 
stanza.  Sidney's  fondness  for  refrains,  which  in- 
deed he  shares  with  most  of  his  contemporaries, 
appears  here  in  the  unusual  internal  refrain  of  the 
third  line.     This  line  is  really  composed  of   two 

1  English  Gamer,  i.  p.  574.  2  Ibid.,  p.  558. 


134  THE   ELIZABETHAN    LYRIC  [chap. 

short  staves,  riming  together.  If  they  be  taken  as 
a  single  line,  the  stanza  then  has  the  effect  of  Fitz- 
gerald's Omar  quatrain.  Finally,  Sidney's  careful 
workmanship  is  seen  in  the  exact  distribution  of 
masculine  and  feminine  rimes. 

The  importance  of  Astrophel  and  Stella  lay  in 
its  intensely  personal  quality.  This  had  two  re- 
sults :  it  gave  Sidney's  own  sonnets  an  effect  of 
unity,  by  relating  them  all  to  his  passion,  thus  set- 
ting a  standard  of  such  unity  for  the  sonnets  that 
were  to  come ;  and  it  revived  for  this  decade  the 
practice  of  sincere  self-revelation,  the  subjective 
lyric  quality,  which  in  the  Petrarchan  imitators 
had  become  almost  confessedly  a  mask. 

In  the  next  year,  1592,  appeared  Samuel  Daniel's 
Delia,1  which  to  the  literary  student  must  always 
suggest  the  two  great  sequences.  It  recalls  Astro- 
phel and  Stella,  because  Delia  is  almost  certainly 
Sidney's  sister  Mary,  Countess  of  Pembroke ;  it  is 
associated  with  Shakspere  because  it  illustrates  the 
first  extended  use  of  his  sonnet-form.  It  is  at  first 
surprising  that  these  sonnets  show  so  little  of  Sid- 
ney's influence,  but  it  is  not  hard  to  find  the  ex- 
planation. The  Countess  of  Pembroke  was  Daniel's 
patroness,  and  out  of  gratitude  he  wished  to  cele- 
brate her  in  his  art.  His  love,  to  say  the  least,  was 
disinterested,  and  never  quite  distinguishable  from 
respectful  friendship.  Five  sonnets  of  the  first 
edition,  the  third,  eighth,  tenth,  twelfth,  and  six- 
1  Elizabethan  Sonnet-Cycles,  Martha  F.  Crow,  ii. 


v.]  THE   SONNET-SERIES  135 

teenth,  he  afterward  omitted,  apparently  because 
they  were  vehement  in  their  declaration  of  passion. 
With  the  intention,  then,  of  "  eternizing  "  his  lady 
in  this  distant  manner,  he  could  hardly  use  the 
burning  art  of  Sidney;  he  could  but  imitate  the 
most  chivalrous  phases  of  Petrarch's  worship  of 
Laura.  Of  course  this  meant  simply  to  ignore 
the  sincere  note  of  Astrophel,  and  to  return  to  the 
French  models  or  to  the  subjective  quality  of 
Wyatt's  love-plaints.  This  low  temperature  of  the 
lyric  passion  is  accompanied  by  a  revival  of  old 
themes ;  for  example,  that  of  the  lady's  cruelty, 
Petrarch's  familiar  motive,  on  which  fully  half  of 
the  Delia  sonnets  are  written.  Sidney  had  escaped 
from  the  conventionality  of  this  theme  through 
the  circumstances  of  his  love,  where  honor  dictated 
that  he  should  not  love  at  all ;  Stella  thereby  came 
almost  to  symbolize  virtue,  and  Astrophel's  love, 
in  his  own  eyes,  was  terribly  like  desire,  so  that 
the  repulses  and  final  dismissal  were  not  acts  of 
cruelty,  but  triumphs  of  spiritual  love.  To  offset 
this,  however,  the  very  conditions  of  Daniel's  ad- 
miration for  the  Countess  of  Pembroke  would  per- 
suade him  to  dwell  on  her  intellectual  and  spiritual 
beauty  rather  than  on  physical  charms,  as  Sidney 
had  done.  In  one  sonnet,  the  sixth,  we  might  feel 
a  suggestion  of  Platonic  emphasis  on  the  soid,  often 
the  motive  of  Spenser's  love-poetry  :  — 

"  A  modest  maid,  decked  with  a  blush  of  honor, 
Whose  feet  do  tread  green  paths  of  youth  and  love  ; 


136  THE   ELIZABETHAN   LYIUC  [chap. 

The  wonder  of  all  eyes  that  look  upon  her, 
Sacred  on  earth,  designed  a  saint  above."  x 

There  is  no  narrative  element  in  Delia,  nor  any 
progression  in  the  lover's  moods.  The  poet  sings 
praises  of  his  lady,  or  laments  her  cruelty,  or  intro- 
duces decorative  themes  —  perhaps  after  Sidney's 
example,  but  more  probably  in  direct  imitation  of 
French  poets.  The  best  of  these  incidental  themes, 
and  the  most  familiar  sonnet,  is  the  one  on 
sleep :  — 

u  Care-chariner  Sleep,  son  of  the  sable  night."  2 

It  has   been  pointed  out  that  this  is  one  of  the 

favorite  decorative  themes  of  all  the  sonnet-series ; 

evidently  Sidney's  sonnet  is  followed  here.3     The 

famous   image   of  the  rose  from  canto  sixteen  of 

the  Gerusalemme  Liberata,  afterwards  entering  our 

literature  once  for  all  in  bk.  iv,  canto  xii  of   the 

Faerie  Queene,  here  serves  a  decorative  purpose  as 

translated  in  the  thirty-sixth  sonnet :  — 

"Look,  Delia,  how  w'  esteem  the  half-blown  rose, 
The  image  of  thy  blush,  and  summer's  honor."  4 

Daniel  introduces  from  Italian  poetry  the  "  eter- 
nizing "  theme  —  the  promise  to  make  his  love 
immortal  by  his  verse.  The  idea  of  the  deathless 
quality  of  poetry  has  been  seen  in  the  Anglo- 
Saxon  song  Wiclsith,  where  praise  is  rendered  to 
the  patron  "free  in  gifts,  who  would   be  raised 

1  Elizabethan  Sonnet-Cycles,  ii.  p.  21.  2  Ibid.,  p.  66. 

3  See  Mod.  Lang.  Notes,  iv.  8,  229,  aud  v.  1,  11. 
*  Elizabethan  Sonnet-Cycles,  ii.  p.  51. 


v.]  THE   SONNET-SERIES  137 

among  his  friends  to  fame " ;  it  is  found  also  in 
Homer ;  but  its  most  persistent  expression  is  in  the 
sonnet-sequences  that  follow  Daniel.  The  fact  that 
he  introduced  this  theme,  a  favorite  one  later  with 
Shakspere,  is  another  link  to  bind  him  with  the 
great  poet. 

The  main  reason  for  considering  the  two  names 
together  is  that  Daniel  uses  largely  the  English 
sonnet  of  three  quatrains  and  a  couplet.  Critics 
have  objected  that  the  form  was  in  use  long  before 
Delia  was  written,  and  that  the  knowledge  of  it 
was  general.  But  Daniel  first  discovered  its  proper 
development,  to  which  Shakspere  added  nothing  — 
the  gradual  rise  of  emotion  and  thought  to  an 
epigrammatic  climax  in  the  last  two  lines,  instead 
of  the  swell  and  fall  of  the  Petrarchan  stanza. 
In  the  ninth  sonnet  Daniel  anticipates  the  very- 
cadence  of  much  of  Shakspere,  where  he  begins 
each  quatrain  and  the  couplet  with  a  subordinate 
clause,  and  completes  the  sense  in  the  last  lines:  — 

"  If  this  be  love,  to  draw  a  weary  breath, 
To  paint  on  floods  till  the  shore  cry  to  th'  air  ; 

****** 
If  this  be  love,  to  war  against  my  soul, 
Lie  down  to  wail,  rise  up  to  sigh  and  grieve, 

****** 
If  this  be  love,  to  clothe  me  with  dark  thoughts, 
Haunting  untrodden  paths  to  wail  apart, 

If  this  be  love,  to  live  a  living  death, 

Then  do  I  love  and  draw  this  weary  breath." 1 

i  Ibid.,  p.  24. 


138  THE   ELIZABETHAN   LYRIC  [chap. 

Daniel,  like  Shakspere,  frequently  gives  different 
versions  of  one  theme.  In  that  case  he  binds  the 
sonnets  together,  either  by  making  them  gram- 
matically dependent,  as  are  sonnets  six  and  seven, 
or  more  usually,  by  making  the  last  line  of  each 
sonnet  the  first  line  of  the  next.  A  series  on  one 
theme  thus  bound  together  are  sonnets  thirty-six, 
thirty-seven,  thirty-eight,  thirty-nine,  and  forty. 
This  method  of  concatenation  has  been  observed 
already  in  the  English  lyric  in  the  stanzas  of 
Minot's  poems,  and  perhaps  should  be  referred 
ultimately  to  a  similar  stylistic  device  in  Welsh 
poetry. 

In  several  minor  points  Daniel  recalls  the  lyrics 
of  the  miscellanies ;  as,  to  take  an  external  trait, 
where  he  prefaces  one  sonnet  by  a  title-intro- 
duction, which  is  necessary  for  understanding  the 
poem  :  Alluding  to  the  Sparrow  pursued  by  A  Hawk, 
that  flew  into  the  Bosom  of  Zenocrates.1  In  another 
sonnet  he  repeats  the  old  thought  —  with  more 
sincerity,  no  doubt,  than  most  love-poets  could  — 
that  his  passion  finds  ample  satisfaction  in  having 
aimed  high. 

"  The  mounting  venture  for  a  high  delight 
Did  make  the  honor  of  the  fall  the  more. 

****** 

And  therefore,  Delia,  'tis  to  me  no  blot 

To  have  attempted  though  attained  thee  not."  a 

Finally,  two  sonnets  on  going  to  Italy3  recall 

1  No.  xxviii,  p.  43.  3  Nos.  xlix,  p.  64,  1,  p.  65. 

2  No.  xxxii,  p.  47. 


v.]  THE   SONNET-SERIES  139 

the  old  lyric  theme  of  travel.  The  resemblance  is 
strengthened  by  the  patriotic  apostrophe  to  Albion, 
in  which,  by  the  way,  such  a  small  thing  as  absence 
from  Delia  is  quite  forgotten  in  the  more  keenly 
felt  absence  from  English  shores. 
In  the  fifty- fourth  sonnet,  — 

"  Like  as  the  lute  delights  or  else  dislikes 
As  is  his  art  that  plays  upon  the  same,"  1 

a  musical  instrument  appears  in  the  sonnets  for 
the  first  time  as  an  image  of  love  and  its  moods. 
The  habit  persists  into  Shakspere's  series,  with 
the  familiar  picture  in  his  hundred  and  twenty- 
eighth  sonnet,  of  virginal-playing.  It  has  been 
customary  for  scholars  to  collect  such  passages  as 
this  from  Daniel,  to  prove  an  Elizabethan's  famil- 
iarity with  the  music  of  his  time ;  and  as  the  lute 
is  most  often  mentioned,  the  deduction  is  made 
that  the  instrument  was  in  every  one's  hands.  It 
may  not  be  out  of  place,  however,  to  notice  that 
this  and  similar  references  to  the  lute  are  probably 
literary,  in  the  same  spirit  in  which  sculptors 
carve  Homer  always  with  his  lyre.  The  lute  sur- 
vives even  in  modern  lyrics,  perhaps  because  of 
its  very  melodious  name,  and  possibly  because 
our  minds  refuse  to  associate  the  poet's  art  with 
a  familiar  musical  instrument,  like  the  piano,  for 
example,  or  the  guitar.  The  difficulty  was  as 
great   to  the  Elizabethans,  who  could  not   picture 

i  Ibid.,  p.  69. 


140  THE  ELIZABETHAN  LYRIC  [chap. 

their  poets  seated  at  the  virginal ;  the  fact  that 
they  do  imagine  them  with  a  lute  in  their  hands, 
would  seem  to  argue  that  the  lute  already  was  "be- 
coming a  literary  convention,  and  superseded  as 
a  practical  instrument.  It  is  a  proof  of  Shak- 
spere's  power  to  find  his  image  near  at  hand,  that 
he  uses  the  virginal,  instead  of  the  lute ;  but  it  is 
his  mistress  who  plays,  not  the  poet. 

In  the  same  year,  1592,  appeared  Henry  Con- 
stable's Diana,1  on  which,  rather  than  on  his  sacred 
sonnets  already  mentioned,  his  fame  rests.  Of 
the  twenty -eight  sonnets  in  this  collection,  two 
are  devoted  to  Lady  Rich,  and  in  one  of  them  the 
name  is  used  for  a  pun,  though  of  course  with  no 
such  ill  intention  as  Sidney's.  This  reminder 
that  we  are  among  Astrophel's  contemporaries  is 
the  only  direct  evidence  of  Sidney's  influence  on 
Constable.  Diana  has  not  the  mark  of  a  real 
woman,  nor  are  even  the  conventional  themes 
exhausted  in  her  praise.  The  poet  is  unsuccessful 
and  gives  up  his  wooing,  according  to  the  twenty- 
sixth  sonnet ;  yet  the  lady's  cruelty  is  but  slightly 
touched  on,  and  the  poet  never  seems  really  dis- 
turbed by  his  fate.  The  passion  of  Sidney's  lyrics 
so  far  declines  here,  that  the  lover  bids  his  mis- 
tress to  command  him  to  love  in  vain ;  his  ill  suc- 
cess will  then  be  easy  to  bear,  he  says,  for  all  her 
commands  are  joy.2  The  fact  is,  Constable  is 
simply   exercising   himself    in   the   latest   literary 

1  Sonnets  ami  other  Poems,  Hazlitt,  1859.         J  Ibid.,  p.  6. 


v.]  THE   SONNET-SERIES  141 

form ;  he  has  only  a  lay -figure  to  sing  to,  and  lacks 
the  dramatic  imagination  to  feign  enthusiasm. 
As  literary  exercises,  his  sonnets  are  admirable, 
smoother  than  Daniel's  though  not  so  sweet,  and 
more  regular  in  form.  He  recalls  us  to  the  mis- 
cellanies by  the  use  of  titles,  some  of  which  show 
the  old  lack  of  humor,  and  revive  the  narrative 
element;  e.g.  To  his  Ladle's  Hand:  upon  occasion 
of  her  Glove,  which  in  her  Absence  he  kissed.1  The 
concluding  lines  of  this  sonnet  illustrate  the  gen- 
eral temper  of  Constable's  lyric  passion,  as  well 
as  his  very  respectable  literary  skill :  — 

"  The  bow  that  shot  these  shafts  a  relique  is, 
I  meane  the  hand  —  which  is  the  reason  why 
So  many  for  devotion  thee  would  kisse  : 
And  I  thy  glove  kisse,  as  a  thing  divine  — 
Thy  arrowes  quiver,  and  thy  reliques  shrine." 

One  sonnet,  in  praise  of  Diana,  suggests  a  theme 
which  reappeared  in  other  sequences,  notably  Shak- 
spere's.  It  excuses  the  poet  of  the  charge  of  flat- 
tery, which,  he  says,  would  indeed  be  his  crime  if 
he  were  describing  any  one  but  Diana.  The  idea 
is  not  far  from  — 

"  Who  will  believe  my  verse  in  time  to  come, 
If  it  were  filled  with  your  most  high  deserts  ?  " 

Constable's  quiet  book  was  followed  in  1593  by 
the  most  elaborate  of  the  purely  "  literary "  se- 
quences, Barnabe  Barnes's  Parthenophll  and  Par- 
thenopher      Not    only    sonnets,    but   odes,    elegies, 

1  Ibid.,  p.  13.  2  Grosart,  Occasional  Issues,  i. 


142  THE    ELIZABETHAN   LYRIC  [chap. 

madrigals,  canzons,  and  sestinas  are  used  to  express 
the  lover's  emotion.  So  far  as  the  subject-matter 
is  concerned  there  is  no  discrimination  between  the 
forms ;  an  idea  introduced  in  a  sonnet  may  be 
carried  on  in  a  madrigal.1  The  number  of  literary 
forms  employed  shows  the  bent  of  Barnes's  genius ; 
he  is  more  interested  in  metrical  experiments  than 
in  ideas.  As  a  result,  his  series  is  extremely  hard 
to  read,  and  none  of  his  sonnets  are  remembered  by 
any  but  students  of  literature.  His  range  of  themes 
is  very  narrow,  and  his  lyric  emotion  is  slight.  He 
sings  the  cruelty  of  his  mistress  in  a  few  sonnets, 
notably  in  the  twenty-eighth,2  which  is  one  of  the 
few  examples  of  lyric  manner :  — 

"  So  be  my  labours  endlesse  in  their  turnes, 
Turne,  turne  Parthenophe  turne  and  relent, 
Hard  is  thine  harte  and  never  will  repent ; 
See  how  this  heart  within  my  body  burns,"  etc. 

Barnes  also  has  the  inevitable  description  of  his 
lady,  but  his  terms  are  very  conventional ;  he  refers 
to  "  golden  wyers  "  for  her  hair ;  to  pearls  set  in 
rubies,  when  he  means  her  teeth ;  to  diamonds 
for  her  eyes,  and  to  ivory  for  her  skin.3  This  in- 
ventory of  ruby,  crystal,  ivory,  pearl,  and  gold  was 
perfectly  familiar  to  earlier  English  poets ;  it  is 
remarkable  only  that  Barnes  and  his  sonnet  com- 
rades should  return  to  it  in  such  a  barefaced 
manner  after  Sidney  had  set  an  example  of  poetic 

1  Sonnet  xiii  and  madr.  iv,  p.  10.  3  No.  48. 

2  Ibid.,  p.  18. 


v.]  THE   SONNET-SERIES  143 

sincerity.      It  remained  for  Shakspere  to  depart 
from  such  trite  and  far-fetched  images. 

The  first  nine  sonnets  are  purely  narrative,  telling 
how  Parthenophil's  heart  left  Laya,  his  first  love, 
for  Parthenophe.  A  narrative  rather  than  a  lyric 
tendency  is  observable  throughout  the  sequence. 
Besides  the  two  general  themes  mentioned,  Barnes 
has  nothing  but  rather  fantastic  ideas,  which  would 
link  him  with  the  later  metaphysical  poets,  had  he 
any  of  their  enthusiasm.  Twice  he  compares  his 
love  to  a  clock,  working  out  a  parallel  for  all  parts 
of  the  mechanism * ;  and  as  is  usual  with  such  writ- 
ing, the  mind  is  diverted  from  the  idea  to  the 
image.  Rather  less  pleasant  are  the  several  poems 
involving  sensuous  physical  images.  What  is  bear- 
able in  Sidney  or  Spenser  only  on  account  of  the 
elevation  of  mood  that  accompanies  it,  is  treated  by 
Barnes  with  the  iitmost  cold-blooded  frankness, 
and  seems  nothing  short  of  brutal.  The  sixty- 
third  sonnet2  is  especially  unpleasant  when  it  is 
remembered  that  Barnes  is  describing  the  woman 
whom  he  is  supposed  to  love.  How  little  his 
interest  was  in  his  pretended-  passion,  and  how 
far  afield  he  went  for  queer  ideas,  is  illustrated  by 
the  thirty-second3  and  the  ten  following  sonnets, 
which  find  their  inspiration  in  the  signs  of  the 
Zodiac.  The  eighty-ninth4  sonnet  is  an  echo-song, 
the  last  syllable  of  each  line  being  repeated.     The 

i  Nos.  18  and  54.  3  ma.,  p.  21. 

a  Occasional  Issues,  i.  p.  43.  4  Ibid.,  p.  57. 


144  THE   ELIZABETHAN   LYRIC  [chap. 

lyric  impulse  is  at  its  lowest,  perhaps,  in  the  thirty- 
first  sonnet,  in  which  each  line  is  made  up  of 
phrases  and  their  inversions  :  — 

"I  burne  yet  am  I  cold,  I  am  a  cold  yet  burne, 
In  pleasing  discontent,  in  discontentment  pleased,"  etc.* 

The  so-called  madrigals,  odes,  and  elegies  scat- 
tered through  the  series  are  nothing  but  irregular 
rime-forms,  and  cannot  be  generalized.  The  term 
madrigal  is  evidently  used  to  imply  song-quality, 
since  to  the  Elizabethan  mind  a  madrigal  was 
essentially  a  musical  form.  Barnes,  however,  is 
unsuccessful  in  achieving  any  special  melody  in 
this  class  of  his  lyrics ;  they  are  no  more  like  songs 
than  his  sonnets.  The  sestina,  whose  only  interest 
is  its  form,  will  be  considered  later. 

In  this  same  year,  1593,  appeared  Thomas 
Watson's  second  sequence,  the  Teares  of  Fancie. 
Of  the  original  twenty-eight  sonnets,  eight  have 
been  lost.  This  also  is  a  conventional  love-sequence, 
and  the  lady  counts  for  as  little  as  did  Parthenophe. 
Watson  resembles  Barnes  further  in  giving  his 
sonnets  a  narrative  character.  The  first  eight  tell 
how  the  poet  quarrelled  with  Cupid,  and  how,  after 
many  unsuccessful  attempts  at  revenge,  the  god 
finally  caught  him  with  his  mistress'  eyes.  With  the 
love-story  thus  elaborately  begun,  the  sonnets  immedi- 
ately relapse  into  the  inevitable  theme  of  the  lady's 
extreine  cruelty,  with  one  brief  hint  at  her  beauty.2 

1  Occasional  Issues,  i.  p.  20. 

2  Watson's  Puems,  Arber  Reprint,  p.  189. 


v.]  THE   SONNET-SERIES  145 

This  sequence  is  too  short  to  be  compared  with 
Sidney's  or  Barnes's.  It  shows  even  more  techni- 
cal proficiency  than  the  Hekatompathia,  but  is  just 
as  lacking  in  inspiration  and  importance.  It  is  a 
good  illustration,  however,  of  the  Italian  influence 
upon  scholarly  minds,  appearing  here  in  such  small 
but  significant  points  as  the  attempt  to  reproduce 
the  feminine  rimes  of  that  literature. 

To  the  same  year  belongs  the  elder  Giles  Fletcher's 
Licia,1  avowedly  a  collection  of  literary  exercises. 
In  the  preface  he  says,  "  This  kinde  of  poetrie 
wherein  I  wrote,  I  did  it  onlie  to  trie  my  humour." 2 
Most  of  the  sonnets  are  imitated,  and  the  origi- 
nals have  been  carefully  noted  by  the  editor,  Dr. 
Grosart.3  But  the  fact  that  the  poet's  insincerity 
is  frankly  confessed  does  not  lessen  the  very  con- 
siderable charm  of  this  sequence.  Not  only  is 
the  verse  itself  more  melodious,  if  less  vigorous, 
than  Sidney's,  but  the  subjects  are  all  drawn  from 
an  imaginary  world  of  great  beauty.  Most  of  the 
sonnets  are  little  idyls,  after  the  Alexandrian 
manner,  full  of  cupids,  and  describing  dainty 
dramas  in  which  Venus  and  the  poet's  mistress 
play  prominent  parts.  In  tone  the  whole  sequence 
accords  with  the  nineteenth  idyl  of  Theocritus  — 
the  story  of  Love  stung  by  the  bee,  and  laughed  at 
by  Aphrodite.  An  illustrative  parallel  in  Fletcher 
is  the  ninth  sonnet :  — 

1  Grosart,  Occasional  Issues,  ii.  3  Ibid.,  p.  101. 

*Ibid.,  p.  7. 

L 


146  THE   ELIZABETHAN   LYRIC  [chap. 

"  Love  was  layd  downe,  all  wearie  fast  asleepe, 
Whereas  my  love  his  armour  tooke  away,"  etc.1 

The  sequence  gives  the  impression  of  an  exqui- 
sitely delicate  poetic  spirit,  but  of  little  strength. 
None  of  the  sonnets  show  fervor ;  all  of  them  be- 
speak a  keen  delight  in  intellectual  and  literary- 
beauty.  The  element  of  sensuous  physical  charm  is 
very  small,  but  the  feeling  for  painting,  such  as  was 
found  in  Lodge's  Rosalind,  reappears  frequently, 
with  most  effect  in  the  sonnet  in  which  Licia  is 
brought  face  to  face  with  her  own  portrait.2  The 
only  deep  note  is  struck  in  the  sonnet  suggestive 
of  Shakspere,  in  which  the  poet  meditates  how 
time  will  destroy  all  things  save  beauty,  virtue,  and 
friendship :  — 

"  In  tyme  the  strong  and  stately  turrets  fall, 
In  tyme  the  rose  and  silver  Lillies  die, 
In  tyme  the  monarchs  captives  are  and  thrall, 
In  tyme  the  sea  and  rivers  are  made  drie  ; 
The  hardest  flint  in  tyme  doth  melt  asunder, 
Still  living  fame,  in  tyme  doth  fade  away, 
The  mountains  proud  we  see  in  tyme  come  under, 
And  earth  for  age  we  see  in  tyme  decay  : 

Thus  all  (sweet  faire)  in  tyme  must  have  an  end, 
Except  thy  beautie,  virtues,  and  thy  friend."3 

Like  Barnes  and  the  other  followers  of  Sidney, 
Fletcher  supposes  his  mistress  to  fall  ill,  and  has  a 
sonnet  on  her  sickness.4  This  situation  seems  to 
have  been  an  admirable  one  for  suggesting  queer 

1  Occasional  Issues,  ii.  p.  20.  3  Ibid.,  p.  39. 

2  Ibid.,  p.  17.  *  Ibid.,  p.  35. 


v.]  THE   SONNET-SERIES  147 

poetic  ideas  ;  here  Licia  is  visited  by  Death,  whom 
she   confounds  by  her   beauty.     Another  familiar 
theme  is  the  musical  image  of  love,  in  this  case, 
like  Daniel's  sonnet,  introducing  the  lute :  — 
"Whenas  my  lute  is  tuned  to  her  voyce,"  etc.1 

In  this  year  also  appeared  Lodge's  Phillis,  a  col- 
lection of  sonnets  and  songs.2  How  much  Lodge 
owes  to  the  example  of  the  sonneteers  just  men- 
tioned is  not  known,  for  in  1591  he  left  Eng- 
land with  Cavendish  for  Brazil  and  did  not  return 
until  1593.  It  is  most  likely  that  he  wrote  his 
sonnets  before  he  left,  and  was  acquainted  with 
Sidney's  Astropkel.  Not  only  is  this  likely  from 
the  promptness  with  which  the  poems  appeared 
after  his  return,  but  in  the  descriptions  of  the  sea, 
which  they  contain,  there  is  no  realism  whatever, 
such  as  might  be  expected  from  an  observing  Eliza- 
bethan fresh  from  a  voyage. 

Lodge  evidently  wrote  while  the  pastoral  mood 
was  fashionable,  for  his  sequence,  more  than  any 
other,  makes  use  of  Arcadian  backgrounds  and 
images.  Most  of  the  ideas  are  expressed  figura- 
tively in  flowers  or  plants,  as  in  the  sonnet  devoted 
to  Phillis'  sickness  :  — 

"  How  languisheth  the  primrose  of  love's  garden  ! "  etc.3 

The  usual  love-plaint,  describing  the  hard  heart 
of  the  lady,  uses  a  similar  image  of  a  broken 
flower :  — 

i  Ibid.,  p.  42.  8/5^.(P.  20. 

2  Elizabethan  Sonnet  Cycles,  Crow,  i. 


148  THE   ELIZABETHAN   LYRIC  [chap. 

"  Ah,  pale  and  dying  infant  of  the  spring, 
How  rightly  now  do  I  resemble  thee  ! "  1 

In  one  lyric  the  poet  describes  the  physical 
beauty  of  his  mistress ; 2  in  this  of  course  he  is 
following  the  sonnet  convention.  He  seems  more 
sincere,  however,  as  he  is  certainly  more  noble,  in 
the  sonnet  in  which  he  exalts  her  spiritual  charms  ; 3 
some  praise  the  looks  of  their  fair  queens,  he  says, 
but  Phillis  excels  in  eloquence,  wisdom,  modesty, 
and  faith. 

At  intervals  throughout  the  collection,  and  es- 
pecially toward  the  end,  occur  interpolated  lyrics. 
None  of  them  show  any  particular  importance 
in  external  form,  for  though  Lodge  has  often  the 
effect  of  variety,  he  rarely  attempts  innovations. 
Some  of  his  lyrics  he  calls  "  odes  "  ;  others  he  calls 
"  songs."  There  is  no  distinction,  however,  between 
the  two  classes.  Of  the  odes,  the  best  is,  "Now 
I  find  thy  looks  were  feigned." 4  Of  the  songs,  the 
best  known  are  probably  "  My  Phillis  hath  the 
morning  sun,"5  and  "Love  gilds  the  roses  of  thy 
lips." 6 

Phillis  differs  from  the  other  sequences  in  being 
evidently  completed  by  the  poet ;  there  is  no  such 
unfinished  feeling  as  is  got  from  the  Astrophel. 
Lodge's  concluding  sonnet  is  significant  in  that  it 
commends  the  series  not  only  to  the  lady  but  also 

1  Elizabethan  Sonnet-Cycles,  i.  p.  18.  4  Ibid.,  p.  71. 

2  Ibid.,  p.  52.  5J7,u?.,p.  28. 
*  Ibid.,  p.  33.  6/6^.^.26. 


v.]  THE   SONNET-SERIES  149 

to  the  reader ;  the  poet  evidently  drops  his  lover's 
mask. 

Michael  Drayton's  Idea,  1594,  *  needs  little  com- 
ment either  for  form  or  for  substance.  Whatever 
his  merits  may  be  in  other  forms  of  poetry,  Drayton 
here  reveals  a  scholastic  mind  without  much  evi- 
dence of  lyric  power.  Conjecture  has  found  a  real 
woman  for  the  subject  of  these  sonnets,  but  there 
is  no  supporting  evidence,  and  the  theory  weakens 
with  every  reading  of  the  sequence.  After  a  few 
sonnets  dealing  directly  with  the  love-story  through 
the  conventional  themes  of  the  awakening  of  pas- 
sion and  the  lady's  hard-heartedness,  the  poet 
turns  for  inspiration  to  such  subjects  as  the  Soul,2 
and  the  Celestial  Numbers.3  These  are  indeed  con- 
nected with  the  main  theme  of  love,  but  the  inter- 
est of  the  poet  and  of  the  reader  is  felt  to  lie  chiefly 
in  the  academic  conceit. 

How  far  Drayton  is  removed  from  the  normal 
inspiration  of  love-poetry  is  shown  by  the  two 
sonnets  in  which,  under  the  titles  of  Lunacy  *  and 
Folly,5  he  studies  his  passion  as  a  type  of  mental 
disease:  — 

"  With  fools  and  children  good  discretion  beares, 
Then  honest  people  beare  with  love  and  me." 

The  lady,  from  all  appearances,  is  forgotten  —  if 
indeed  Drayton  ever  thought  of  one. 

1  Poems,  Oliver  Elton,  The  Spencer  Society,  1888,  pt.  ii. 

2  Ibid.,  p.  382.  i  Ibid.,  p.  381. 

3  Ibid.,  p.  386.  s  Ibid.,  p.  388. 


150  THE   ELIZABETHAN   LYRIC  [chap. 

In  the  same  year  appeared  "William  Percy's 
Coelia.1  This  slight  sequence  of  twenty  sonnets 
shows  even  more  than  Drayton's  what  uniyrical 
material  was  dragged  into  the  vortex  of  the  sonnet 
fashion.  Percy  was  an  intimate  friend  of  Barnabe 
Barnes,  and  perhaps  from  admiration  of  Partheao- 
phil,  which  he  mentions  in  a  so-called  madrigal,2  he 
was  led  to  compose  a  sequence  of  his  own.  The 
now  familiar  themes  are  copied  laboriously.  When 
Percy  meets  Coelia,  Cupid  wounds  him  at  once. 
Coelia,  of  course,  fails  to  reciprocate,  so  that  her 
lover  reproaches  her  for  cruelty.  These  remon- 
strances show  an  amusing  preponderance  of  com- 
mon sense  over  poetry,  as  in  the  lines :  — 

"  Dearest  cruell  the  cause  I  see  dislikes  thee, 
On  us  thy  brows  thou  bende  so  direfully  ; 
Enjoine  me  peunaunce  whatsoever  likes  thee, 
Whate're  it  be  He  take  it  thankefully. 
Yet  since  for  love  it  is  I  am  thy  bondman, 
Good  Coelia  use  me  like  a  Gentleman."  3 

The  uncertain  prosody  of  this  quotation,  espe- 
cially the  riming  of  the  last  two  lines,  is  typical 
of  Percy's  art  in  general ;  he  profits  by  none  of  the 
advances  made  since  Wyatt's  time. 

Among  his  incidental  or  decorative  themes,  Percy 
introduces  the  usual  musical  image  in  an  address 
to  his  lute  :  — 

"  Strike  up,  my  lute,  and  ease  my  heavie  cares."  * 

1  Grosart,  Occasio7ial  Issues,  iv.  3  Ibid.,  p.  11. 

2  Ibid.,  p.  25.  *  Ibid.,  p.  12. 


v.]  THE   SONNET-SERIES  151 

An  old  technical  trick  is  repeated  in  the  "  echo  " 
sonnet,.1  Instead  of  the  more  usual  linking  of  his 
love's  beauty  with  Venus,  through  the  fable  that 
Cupid  mistook  the  lady  for  his  mother,  Percy  likens 
Coelia  to  Polyxena,  and  on  the  theory  of  the  rein- 
carnation of  souls,  defends  his  position  stoutly.2 
In  the  interpolation  of  realistic  incidents  he  is  not 
so  happy ;  a  good  illustration  is  his  account  of  how 
his  lady  accidentally  stepped  on  his  foot.3 

In  1594  also  appeared  the  anonymous  series 
Zepheria*  composed  of  forty  English  sonnets,  more 
or  less  regular,  called  canzone.  The  author  of  this 
sequence  seems  to  have  been  a  diligent  reader  of 
French  poetry;  many  passages  in  their  language 
also  suggest  Chaucer,  e.g. :  — 

"  When  from  the  tower  whence  I  derive  love's  heaven, 
Mine  eyes  (quick  pursuivants  !)  the  sight  attached 
Of  thee,  all  splendent !     I,  as  out  of  sweaven, 
Myself  'gan  rouse,  like  one  from  sleep  awaked."  5 

The  author  of  these  poems,  like  Percy,  follows 
the  uncertain  prosody  of  Wyatt's  time.  In  femi- 
nine rimes,  for  example,  he  evidently  thinks  it 
sufficient  that  the  last  syllables  should  correspond, 
as  in  the  quotation,  "  attached,"  "  awaked."  He 
returns  to  the  earlier  poetry  in  a  deeper  sense, 
however,  by  reviving  the  mood  of  the  old  mis- 
cellany love-plaints.     The  sonnets  generally  inter- 

1  Ibid.,  p.  19.  4  Arber's  English  Gamer,  v.  p.  65  sq. 

2  Ibid.,  p.  15.  5  Ibid.,  p.  66. 

3  Ibid.,  p.  7. 


152  THE   ELIZABETHAN   LYRIC  [chap. 

est  us  in  the  isolated  moods  of  the  lover  rather 
than  in  the  lady  or  in  the  progression  of  the  story. 
Beyond  the  general  theme  of  the  hard-heartedness 
of  his  mistress,  the  poet  does  not  characterize  her 
at  all.  The  series  is  of  no  importance  either  in 
spirit  or  in  form.  It  is  chiefly  remembered  because 
its  frequent  use  of  legal  terms  *  was  parodied  by 
Sir  John  Davies,  whom  we  shall  consider  later. 

In  January,  1595,  Richard  Barnfield  published 
his  twenty  sonnets  to  Ganymede.2  This  sequence 
is  mainly  remarkable  for  its  subject — that  passion- 
ate friendship  of  one  man  for  another  which  is  the 
first  motive  in  Shakspere's  series.  In  treating  this 
subject  Barnfield  has  but  two  lyrical  themes, — 
Ganymede's  beauty  and  the  poet's  love.  There  is 
no  narrative  or  dramatic  element  in  the  sequence. 
Ganymede's  beauty  is  expressed  by  mythological 
comparisons :  — 

"  Cherry-lipt  Adonis  in  his  snowie  shape, 
Might  not  compare  with  his  pure  Ivorie  •white."  3 

The  poet's  love  for  his  friend  is  put  in  equally 

literary  terms,  drawn  from  classical  thought :  — 

"  The  Stoics  thinke  (and  they  come  neare  the  truth,) 
That  virtue  is  the  chief  est  good  of  all. 

My  chiefest  good,  my  cbiefe  felicity, 
Is  to  be  gazing  on  my  love's  faire  eie."  4 

It  is  suspected  that  Barnfield  imitates  Shakspere, 
or   that   Shakspere   imitates   him.      Certainly,  be- 

1  Cf.  Nos.  ii,  v,  vi,  xiii,  xx,  etc.  8  No.  17. 

2  Poems,  Grosart,  The  Roxburghe  Club,  1876.        *  No.  3. 


v.]  THE   SONNET-SERIES  153 

sides  the  common  use  of  the  theme  of  friendship, 
there  is  a  resemblance  between  them  in  the  smooth- 
ness and  sweetness  of  their  verses. 

II 

Next  to  Shakspere's  and  Sidney's,  the  sonnet- 
sequence  that  Avould  attract  most  attention  by  the 
name  of  its  author  is  Spenser's,  published  in  1595, 
under  the  title  Amoretti.1  From  a  poet  of  his  rank 
we  should  expect  all  that  the  form  was  capable  of ; 
and  from  Spenser,  in  particular,  the  scholarly  poet, 
we  should  look  for  a  combination  of  the  good  points 
of  preceding  sequences.  To  make  a  general  criti- 
cism in  advance,  we  should  say  that  the  individual 
sonnets  have  not  the  merit  of  the  series  as  a  whole. 
None  of  them  stand  out  boldly,  as  do  many  of  Sid- 
ney's and  Shakspere's.  A  partial  explanation  may 
lie  in  the  rime-scheme,  which  is  attributed  else- 
where to  the  example  of  Clement  Marot.2  This 
has  neither  the  rise  and  fall  of  the  Petrarchan 
strophe,  nor  the  graduated  climax  of  the  English 
quatrains ;  the  ear  becomes  dull  with  mere 
smoothness. 

But  taking  the  sonnets  as  a  whole,  the  critic 
must  find  in  them  the  truest  sequence  of  this 
decade.  There  is  a  progression  in  the  story  and  in 
the  poet's  moods,  from  the  beginning  to  the  end, 
and  each  sonnet  has  its  inevitable  place.  The 
series  is  really  but  one  poem  in  which  each  sonnet 

1  Works,  R.  Morris,  p.  572  sq.     2  See  below,  Chap.  ix.  p.  294. 


154  THE   ELIZABETHAN   LYRIC  [ciur. 

is  a  stanza,  and  each,  stanza,  as  in  the  Epitha- 
lamium,  a  lyric  unit.  The  form  was  in  accord 
with  Spenser's  idyllic  genius. 

The  series  or  single  poem,  if  it  be  considered 
such,  is  divided  with  apparent  forethought  into 
two  parts,  of  sixty-one  and  twenty-two  sonnets 
respectively.  The  first  section  deals  with  the 
unsuccessful  wooing  of  the  poet;  in  the  second 
the  lady  accepts  him,  and  the  days  of  their  be- 
trothal are  described.  The  poet  skilfully  indi- 
cates the  length  of  time  which  is  supposed  to 
elapse.  The  series  begins  in  the  early  spring,  as 
is  seen  from  the  fourth  sonnet :  — 

"New  Yeare,  forth  looking  out  of  Janus  gate, 
Doth  seeme  to  promise  hope  of  new  delight."  1 

In  the  sixty-second  sonnet,  the  turning-point  in  the 
love  story,  another  new  year  is  announced,  so  that 
the  period  of  the  poet's  unrequited  love  is  one  year. 
As  the  Epithalamium,  which  is  supposed  to  end 
the  series,  pictures  midsummer  as  the  time  of  the 
wedding,  the  time  of  the  second  part  of  the  son- 
nets would  appear  to  be  about  six  months.  As  a 
matter  of  fact,  it  was  one  year,  for  Spenser  was 
married  June  11,  1591,  a  year  after  the  lady 
accepted  him.2 

The  first  part  of  the  sequence,  then,  would  nat- 
urally deal  with  more  sombre,  more  troubled  moods 
than  the  second.  In  the  first  year  the  poet  notices 
the  Lenten  season  as  it  comes  round :  — 

1  Spenser's  Works,  p.  573.        -  Cf.  Introduction,  ibid.,  p.  xi. 


v.]  THE   SONNET-SERIES  155 

"  This  holy  season,  fit  to  fast  and  pray, 
Men  to  devotion  ought  to  be  inclynd  : 
Therefore,  I  lykewise,  on  so  holy  day, 
For  my  sweet  Saynt  some  service  fit  will  find."  1 

In  the  second  year,  however,  it  is  Easter-day  that 

accords  with  his  happier  mood :  — 

"  Most  glorious  Lord  of  lyfe  !  that,  on  this  day, 
Didst  make  thy  triumph  over  death  and  sin."  2 

The  same  difference  in  mood,  exquisitely  matched 
with  the  change  in  the  lover's  fortunes,  appears  in 
the  two  sonnets  on  spring.  In  the  first  part,  the 
nineteenth  sonnet 3  warns  all  lovers  to  "  wayt  upon 
their  king"  —  the  old  motive  of  spring  in  love- 
poetry.  In  the  second  part  the  seventieth  sonnet,4 
bidding  the  betrothed  to  hasten  the  wedding-day, 
uses  the  Renascence  argument  of  the  shortness  of 
life  and  the  brief  springtime  of  beauty :  — 

"Make  hast,  therefore,  sweet  love,  whilest  it  is  prime  ; 
For  none  can  call  again e  the  passed  time." 

The  most  unexpected  opposition  between  the  two 
parts  of  the  series  is  in  the  description  of  the  lady's 
beauty.  Spenser  selects  one  detail  as  significant 
of  each  phase  of  his  love-experience.  During  his 
period  of  doubt,  his  mistress'  eyes  are  constantly 
described  in  various  aspects ;  sometimes  as  almost 
baleful  beauty,  as  in  the  seventh  sonnet,5  or  as 
beneficent,  as  in  the  eighth,6  or  as  indices  of  her 
changing  moods,  as  in  the  twelfth.7     In  the  second 

^  Ibid.,  p.  576.  4  lb  id.,  p.  583.  «  J5itf.,  p.  574. 

2  Ibid.,  p.  583.  s  Ibid.,  p.  573.  ?  Ibid.,  p.  574. 

3  Ibid.,  p.  575. 


156  THE   ELIZABETHAN  LYRIC  [chap. 

part  of   the   sequence,  the   poet   dwells   upon  his 

lady's   smile,  which   is   indeed   mentioned   in   the 

earlier  section,  but  which  receives  its  most  notable 

expression  in  the  eighty-first  sonnet.1 

"  Fayre  is  my  love,  when  her  fayre  golden  heares 
With  the  loose  wynd  ye  waving  chance  to  marke  ; 
Fayre,  when  the  rose  in  her  red  cheekes  appears ; 
Or  in  her  eyes  the  fyre  of  love  does  sparke. 
Fayre,  when  her  brest,  lyke  a  rich  laden  barke, 
With  pretious  merchandize  she  forth  doth  lay  ; 
Fayre,  when  that  cloud  of  pryde,  which  oft  doth  dark 
Her  goodly  light,  with  smiles  she  drives  away. 
But  fayrest  she,  when  so  she  doth  display 
The  gate  with  pearles  and  rubies  richly  dight ; 
Throgh  which  her  words  so  wise  do  make  their  way 
To  beare  the  message  of  her  gentle  spright. 
The  rest  be  works  of  natures  wonderment : 
But  this  the  worke  of  harts  astonishment." 

In  the  general  description  of  beauty,  Spenser's 
Platonic  bent  naturally  marks  off  his  sequence 
from  the  others.  Though  as  a  child  of  the  Renas- 
cence, he  is  keenly  sensible  of  physical  charm, 
yet  he  places  the  emphasis  on  beauty  of  soul.  The 
two  worlds,  spiritual  and  physical,  derived  in  a 
literary  sense  from  Plato  on  the  one  hand  and 
from  Italy  on  the  other,  are  to  him  not  antithetical 
but  complementary.  The  illustrative  sonnet  is  the 
fifteenth,2  in  which  the  lady's  eyes,  lips,  hands,  and 
hair  are  described  in  superlative  terms,  with  the 
final  lines :  — 

"  But  that  which  fayrest  is,  but  few  behold, 
Her  mind  adornd  with  vertues  manifold." 

1  Spenser's  Works,  p.  585.  2  Ibid.,  p.  575. 


v.]  THE   SONNET-SERIES  157 

It  is  typical  also  of  Spenser  that  instead  of  liken- 
ing his  mistress  to  a  goddess,  as  had  been  the 
honored  custom  of  sonneteers,  he  refers  to  her 
always  as  his  saint ;  the  very  term  indicates  the 
spiritual  rather  than  physical  excellence  that  he 
admires. 

It  is  in  keeping  with  this  point  of  view  that  he 
describes  his  meeting  with  his  mistress  in  terms 
of  almost  mystical  devotion.  When  he  sees  her, 
according  to  the  third  sonnet,1  instead  of  feeling 
at  once  the  barbed  dart  of  Cupid,  —  the  fate  of  the 
other  sonneteers, — he  is  first  struck  dumb  and  blind 
by  her  beauty.  It  is  not  the  immediate  power  of 
love  that  overcomes  him,  as  it  would  be  in  Dante's 
case,  but  the  unexpected  vision  of  incarnate  virtue. 
This  humility  the  poet  retains  throughout.  It 
takes  final  expression  toward  the  end  of  the  series 
in  the  more  conventional  sixty -sixth  sonnet:2  — 

"  To  all  those  happy  blessings,  which  ye  have 
With  plenteous  hand  by  heaven  upon  you  thrown  ; 
This  one  disparagement  they  to  you  gave, 
That  ye  your  love  lent  to  so  ineane  a  one." 

The  Platonic  and  Italian  strains  in  Spenser's 
nature  find  interesting  expression  in  the  seventy- 
second  sonnet,  on  the  conflict  of  spiritual  and  sen- 
sual desires.  This  theme  enters  into  all  sonnet-series 
more  or  less ;  perhaps  it  has  a  natural  place  in  any 
philosophy  of  human  love.  Only  Sidney,  Spenser, 
and  Shakspere,  however,  have  presented  the  conflict 

ilbid.,  p.  573.  *  Ibid.,  p.  582. 


158  THE   ELIZABETHAN   LYRIC  [chap. 

in  their  sonnets  with  distinction.  With  Sidney  the 
problem  was  a  specific  one,  and  entered  unavoid- 
ably into  his  story;  the  dramatic  element  in  his 
sonnets  comes,  as  has  been  seen,  from  the  conflict 
of  his  sinful  love  with  Stella,  the  embodiment  of 
his  nobler  ideals.  With  Shakspere  throughout  and 
notably  in  the  strong  hundred  and  twenty-ninth 
sonnet,  the  poet's  nature  seems  in  revolt  against 
the  ugliness  of  sinful  desires.  Spenser,  however,  is 
unconscious  of  sin  in  the  problem ;  he  expresses 
simply  the  conflict  between  desires  of  the  heart  and 
of  the  soul,  both  pure  in  themselves  —  Hellenism 
and  Hebraism,  in  Arnold's  phrase.  Whatever- 
advantage  the  other  two  poets  may  have  in  the 
strength  of  their  treatment  of  the  problem,  Spenser 
certainly  has  expressed  it  for  the  normal  reader :  — 

"  Oft,  when  my  spirit  doth  spred  her  bolder  winges, 
In  mind  to  mount  up  to  the  purest  sky  ; 
It  down  is  weighd  with  thoght  of  earthly  things, 
And  clogd  with  burden  of  mortality  ; 
Where,  when  that  soverayne  beauty  it  doth  spy, 
Resembling  heavens  glory  in  her  light, 
Drawne  with  sweet  pleasures  bayt,  it  back  doth  fly 
And  unto  heaven  forgets  her  former  night."  1 

In  this  year,  1595,  appeared  Barnes's  Divine  Cen- 
turie  of  Spiritual  Sonnets.  It  is  usual  to  connect 
this  and  other  collections  of  sacred  lyrics  in  the 
sonnet-form,  with  similar  sequences  written  a  few 
years  earlier  in  France.  Barnes's  sonnets  are  said 
to  be  imitations  of  the  Sonnets  Sjrirituels,  published 
1  Spenser's  Works,  p.  583. 


v.]  THE   SONNET-SERIES  159 

in  1573  and  in  1575  by  the  Abbe*  Jacques  de  Billy. 
But  whatever  the  ultimate  source  of  the  sequence,  it 
represents,  like  Constable's  Spiritual  Sonnets,  a  real 
or  pretended  reaction  against  the  love-sonnet  con- 
vention. Barnes  exhorts  his  muse  in  the  first  poem 
to  leave  singing  of  earthly  passion  and  mount  to 
heavenly  themes.  The  series  adds  no  new  facts 
of  interest,  and  has  never  counted  for  much  in 
Barnes's  reputation. 

Emaricdulfe,  a  sequence  of  forty  sonnets  by  "E. 
C,  Esq.,"  appeared  in  1595.1  It  embraces  few  of 
the  conventional  themes.  Most  of  the  sonnets  are 
in  praise  of  the  lady's  beauty.  They  are  bound 
together  by  no  narrative  vein,  and,  strangely  enough, 
the  lady  is  not  reproached  for  hard-heartedness. 
This  latter  omission,  however,  is  explained  by  the 
author's  dedication,  in  which  he  confesses  the  whole 
series  to  be  a  literary  pastime. 

The  theme  mentioned  last  in  the  criticism  of 
Spenser  is  here  treated  in  the  thirty-second  sonnet, 
in  which  the  poet,  with  something  of  Shakspere's 
vehemence  (perhaps  in  imitation),  rails  against  im- 
pure love.  The  theme  may  be  used  as  a  touch- 
stone, whereby  the  poorness  of  E.  C.'s  art  and  taste 
is  made  painfully  clear. 

In  this  same  year  appeared  Sir  John  Davies' 
Gulling  Sonnets,  nine  quatorzains  in  ridicule  of  the 
more  affected  styles  of  popular  sonneteers.2     The 

1  A  Lamport  Garland,  Cbas.  Edmonds,  The  Roxburghe  Club, 
1881.  2  Complete  Poems,  A.  B.  Grosart,  ii,  p.  51  sq. 


ll>0  THE   ELIZABETHAN   LYRIC  [chap. 

eighth  sonnet  has  been  identified  as  a  parody  of 
the  affectation  of  legal  knowledge  in  Zepheria,  but 
the  others  are  easily  recognized,  at  least  in  the  spirit 
of  their  parody.  The  method  of  all  of  them  is  to 
develop  a  trite  theme  laboriously  through  twelve 
lines,  and  then  in  the  concluding  couplet,  where 
normally  the  climax  should  be,  to  descend  deliber- 
ately into  bathos.  A  good  illustration  is  the 
ninth :  — 

"  To  Love  my  God  I  doe  knightes  service  owe 
And  therefore  now  he  hath  my  witt  in  warde, 
But  while  it  is  in  his  tuition  soe, 
Methinks  he  doth  intreat  it  passinge  hard  ; 
For  thoughe  he  hathe  it  marryed  longe  agoe 
To  Vanytie,  a  wenche  of  no  regarde, 
And  now  to  full  and  perfect  age  doth  growe, 
Yet  nowe  of  freedome  it  is  most  debarde. 
But  why  should  love  after  minoritye 
When  I  am  past  my  one  and  twentieth  yeare 
Perclude  my  witt  of  his  sweet  libertye, 
And  make  it  still  the  yoake  of  wardshippe  beare. 
I  feare  he  hath  an  other  title  gott 
And  holds  my  witt  now  for  an  Ideott."  1 

In  1596  appeared  Richard  Linche's  Diella,  a  series 
of  thirty-nine  English  sonnets.2  Only  a  word  of 
comment  is  needed.  The  sequence  is  thoroughly 
conventional,  but  fairly  well  done.  There  is  an 
interesting  return  to  a  theme  of  the  first  miscel- 
lanies, in  the  tenth  sonnet,  where  the  poet  tells  how 
with   the   springtime   all   things    revive   save   the 

1  Complete  Poems,  ii.  p  62. 

2  Grosart's  Occasional  Issues,  iv. 


v.]  THE   SONNET-SERIES  1G1 

grieving  heart  of  the  lover.1     The  musical  instru- 
ment reappears  in  the  sixteenth  sonnet :  — 

"  But  thou  my  dear  sweet-sounding  lute  be  still."  2 

A  theme  which  becomes  more  important,  as  the 
sonnet  fashion  draws  near  its  climax  in  Shakspere, 
is  what  might  be  called  the  night-thoughts  of  the 
lover.  As  expressed  here  in  the  nineteenth  sonnet, 
it  is  a  mood  of  disappointment,  which  comes  on  the 
lover  when  he  wakes  from  dreaming  of  his  lady.3 
Among  the  descriptions  of  Diella's  beauty  should 
be  noticed  the  usual  comparison  to  a  classic  god- 
dess ; 4  here  the  compliment  is  framed  into  an  epi- 
sode, in  which  Cupid  falls  in  love  with  her,  and 
Venus  is  jealous  lest  she  should  win  the  affection 
of  Mars. 

At  times  the  conventionality  of  the  sequence  is 
interrupted  by  an  odd  allusion  or  a  queer  trick  of 
style.  A  good  example  of  the  first  is  the  reference 
to  the  American  Indian  in  the  eighth  sonnet :  — 

"Thyne  eyes  (those  semynaries  of  my  griefe) 
Have  been  more  gladsome  to  my  tyre'd  spright, 
Than  naked  savages  receive  reliefe 
By  comfort-bringing  warmth  of  Phoebus'  light."  6 

A  conscious  and  very  old  method,  by  which  a  small 
idea  is  stretched  out  to  cover  the  fourteen  lines,  is 
the  antithetical  use  of  images,  as  in  the  fourteenth 
sonnet.6    When  rivers  run  uphill,  and  sheep  devour 

*  Ibid.,  p.  16.  3  Ibid.,  p.  26.  5  Ibid.,  p.  14. 

2  Ibid.,  p.  23.  *  Ibid.,  p.  11.  <>  Ibid.,  p.  21. 

M 


162  THE   ELIZABETHAN   LYRIC  [chap. 

wolves,  and  fish  climb  mountains,  and  bears  swim, 
then  the  poet  will  cease  to  love.  But  rivers  cannot 
run  uphill,  nor  sheep  devour  wolves,  nor  fish  come 
on  land,  nor  bears  swim ;  therefore  the  poet  will 
not  cease  to  love. 

Of  a  finer  inspiration  is  the  sonnet  in  which  Time 
is  bidden  to  turn  back  and  consider  how  beautiful 
Diella  is.1  The  Eenascence  note  of  sadness  is 
absent  from  this  contemplation  of  swift-passing 
beauty,  but  the  images  are  exactly  those  which 
Shakspere  uses  for  the  same  theme,  and  the  effect 
somewhat  recalls  his  fine  apostrophe. 

In  the  same  year  appeared  Bartholomew  Griffin's 
Fidessa,  a  sequence  of  sixty-two  English  sonnets.2 
The  technic  of  these  sonnets  is  excellent,  but  the 
subject-matter  is  echoed  from  previous  series.  The 
most  flagrant  plagiarism  is  the  sonnet  on  sleep,  in 
which  the  phrases  of  Daniel's  fine  poem  are  simply 
rearranged.3 

Griffin's  ability  for  attaining  verbal  effects  with- 
out any  particular  sense  in  the  words  is  illustrated 
by  the  opening  lines  of  the  sonnet  describing  his 
lady :  — 

"  Fair  is  my  love  that  feeds  among  the  lilies, 
The  lilies  growing  in  that  pleasant  garden 
Where  Cupid's  Mount,  that  well-beloved  hill  is, 
And  where  that  little  god,  himself  is  Warden. 
See  where  my  Love  sits  in  the  beds  of  spices  ! 
Beset  all  round  with  camphor,  myrrh  and  roses, 

1  Occasional  Issues,  iv.  p.  9. 

2  Arber's  English  Gamer,  v.  p.  589  sq.  s  Ibid.,  p.  598. 


v.]  THE   SONNET-SERIES  163 

And  interlaced  with  curious  devices 

Which  her  from  all  the  world  apart  incloses."  1 

Griffin's  only  contributions  to  technical  form 
are  two  sonnets  in  which  every  line  ends  in  the 
same  word.  To  the  conventional  music-theme, 
however,  he  adds  a  new  point  of  view,  bringing 
it  nearer  to  Shakspere.  He  introduces  the  lute,  in 
the  seventeenth  sonnet,2  but  the  lady  plays  it:  — 

"  The  lute  itself  is  sweetest  when  she  plays." 

The  instrument  ceases  to  be  the  badge  of  the 
poet's  art,  and  becomes  a  detail  in  a  realistic 
picture. 

To  this  same  year  belongs  Chloris,  a  collection 
of  forty-eight  sonnets  by  William  Smith.3  This 
sequence  is  very  plainly  an  imitation  of  contem- 
porary sonnets,  written  from  an  honest  ambition 
to  be  in  the  fashion.  In  the  third  sonnet  *  and  in 
the  epilogue,5  the  poet  makes  his  frank  apologies 
to  the  other  sonneteers  for  not  following  them 
with  a  surer  foot.  The  two  opening  sonnets 6  and 
the  last,7  all  in  praise  of  Spenser,  are  more  spirited, 
and  at  least  they  do  credit  to  Smith's  critical 
judgment. 

The  series  is  pastoral  in  tone.  The  thirteenth 
sonnet  tells  an  incident  from  Tasso's  Aminta  and 
the  fourteenth  refers  to  that  poem  and  to  that  poet 

i  Ibid.,  p.  609.  s  iud.,  p.  29. 

2  Ibid.,  p.  599.  o  Ibid.,  p.  3. 

3  Grosart's  Occasional  Issues,  iv.  7  Ibid.,  p.  28. 
*  Ibid.,  p.  4. 


164  THE   ELIZABETHAN   LYRIC  [chap. 

by  name;  no  doubt  the  influence  extended  over 
the  rest  of  the  sequence.  The  fauus  and  the  syl- 
vans  are  called  upon  to  plead  with  the  obdurate 
Chloris ;  even  the  pine-trees,  under  whose  shade 
she  rests,  are  bidden  help  persuade  her.  This  is 
the  most  decided  expression  of  Chloris'  cruelty ; 
for  the  most  part  the  poet  is  very  humble,  and 
seems  to  ascribe  to  his  own  unworthiness  his  small 
success  in  love. 

The  only  technical  experiment  is  a  revival  of 
the  old  echo  song  in  the  form  of  sonnet,  in  which 
the  echoes,  read  together,  constitute  a  new  poem  :  — 

"  0  fairest  faire  to  thee  I  make  my  plaint. 
To  thee  from  whom  my  cause  of  grief  doth  sjyring 
Attentive  be  unto  the  grones  sweete  Saint 
Which  unto  thee  in  doleful  tunes  i"  sing. 
My  mournful  muse  doth  alwaies  speak  of  thee, 
My  love  is  pure  O  do  it  not  disdaine, 
With  bitter  sorrow  still  oppress  not  me 
But  mildly  looke  upon  me  which  complaine. 
Kill  not  my  true-affecting  thoughts,  but  give 
Such  pretious  balm  of  comfort  to  my  heart, 
But  casting  off  despaire  in  hope  to  live, 
I  may  find  helpe  at  length  to  ease  my  smart. 
So  shall  you  adde  such  courage  to  my  love, 
That  fortune  false  my  faith  shall  not  remove.'1'' 1 

In  1598  appeared  Kobert  Tof te's  Alba, 2  a  series 
of  love  songs,  in  form  like  Watson's  Hekatompatlda, 
but  with  four  quatrains  instead  of  three.  The 
year  before,   the    same   poet   published   a   similar 

1  Occasional  Issues,  iv.  p.  12.  2  Occasioiial  Issues,  xii. 


v.]  THE   SONNET-SERIES  165 

series  entitled  Laura.  So  slight  is  the  merit  of 
both  performances,  that  Alba  is  considered  more 
important  on  account  of  a  reference  to  Love's 
Labour's  Lost.1 

In  the  same  year  a  set  of  fifteen  elegiac  sonnets 
was  published  by  Thomas  Rogers  on  the  death  of 
Lady  Frances,  Countess  of  Hertford.2  They  show 
the  influence  of  the  sonnet-publishing  fashion  on 
conventional  subject-matter ;  ten  years  before  it 
would  have  taken  the  form  of  epitaphs  such  as  are 
found  in  the  miscellanies. 

Perhaps  in  this  record  of  the  sonnet-sequences 
should  be  included  Sir  John  Davies'  Astrcea,  1599. 
This  is  a  series  of  twenty-six  acrostics  in  honor  of 
the  Queen.  The  initial  letters  of  each  song  form 
the  motto  "  Elisabetha  Kegina."  In  this  artificial 
form  the  poet  attains  great  freedom  and  grace,  and 
the  subjects  are  fresher,  more  English,  and  more 
song-like  than  in  most  of  the  sonnet-series.  Per- 
haps because  of  the  dainty  stanza  and  the  lightly 
turned  compliment,  these  lyrics  often  have  the 
quality  of  society  verse.  A  good  example  is  the 
sixth,  To  the  Nightingale :  — 

"  Every  night  from  even  till  morn, 
Love's  chorister  amid  the  thorn, 
Is  now  so  sweete  a  singer  ! 
So  sweet,  as  for  her  song,  I  scorn 
Apollo's  voice  and  finger. 

i  Ibid.,  p.  105. 

2  Included  in  the  Lamport  Garland,  Chas.  Edmonds,  The 
Roxburghe  Club,  1881. 


16()  THE   ELIZABETHAN   LYRIC  [chap. 

But,  Nightingale  !  sith  you  delight 
Ever  to  watch  the  starry  night, 
Tell  all  the  stars  of  heaven  ! 
Heaven  never  had  a  star  so  bright 
As  now  to  earth  is  given  ! 
Royal  Astrsea  makes  our  day 
Eternal,  with  her  beams  !  nor  may 
Gross  darkness  overcome  her  ! 
I  now  perceive  why  some  do  write, 
'  No  country  hath  so  short  a  night 
As  England  hath  in  summer.'  "  1 

The  sonnet  vogue,  however,  was  nearing  its  end. 
The  last  two  sequences  were  not  published  until 
the  beginning  of  the  next  century,  although  they 
were  probably  written  in  this  decade.  Sir  William 
Alexander's  Aurora,2  a  series  of  a  hundred  and  six 
sonnets,  not  to  mention  madrigals,  so  called,  ses- 
tinas,  elegies,  and  songs,  was  published  in  1604. 
The  sonnets,  which  followed  the  Petrarchan  model, 
were  devoted  to  strictly  conventional  subjects.  In 
the  other  lyrics,  however,  the  author  recalls  Barnes 
by  his  continual  experiments  in  external  verse-form. 
In  all  the  elegies  which  are  merely  love-plaints,  the 
"poulter's  measure"  is  revived  —  possibly  because 
the  poet  thought  it  resembled  the  classical  elegiac 
meter.  The  madrigals  are  irregular  lyrics,  not  at 
all  resembling  the  Italian  form  of  that  name.  In 
the  fourth  song  all  the  stanzas,  which  are  seven 
lines  long,  rime  together  on  the  same  words.3  This 
is  a  variation  of  the  sestina,  without  the  progressive 

1  Arber's  English  Garner,  v.  p.  506. 
\    2  Poetical  Works,  3  vols.,  Glasgow,  1870.       8  Ibid.,  i.  p.  42. 


v.]  THE    SONNET-SERIES  167 

change  in  the  order  of  the  rimes.  A  still  more 
interesting  experiment  is  the  fifth  song,1  in  which 
all  the  rimes  are  perfect ;  that  is,  they  have  the 
same  form  and  sound,  with  a  different  meaning. 
The  first  stanza  will  be  sufficient  for  illustration :  — 

' '  Alongst  the  borders  of  a  pleasant  plaine, 
The  sad  Alexis  did  his  garments  teare, 
And  though  alone,  yet  fearing  to  be  plaine, 
Did  mairae  his  words  with  many  a  sigh  and  teare  : 
For  whilst  he  leaned  him  downe  upon  a  grene, 
His  wounds  began  againe  for  to  grow  grene." 

The  last  and  greatest  sonnet-sequence  of  this 
period,  Shakspere's  Sonnets,  was  published  surrep- 
titiously in  1609.2  It  has  been  thought,  however, 
that  most  of  the  series  was  composed  before  1594, 
and  was  known  to  many  readers  in  manuscript.3 
The  great  interest  in  these  sonnets  has  usually 
centred  in  the  striking  narrative  of  friendship  and 
love  that  forms  the  structure  of  the  series.  The 
poet  begins  with  singing  the  praises  of  his  friend, 
a  young  man ;  then  a  woman  appears  by  whom  both 
are  fascinated,  and  the  young  friend  apparently 
defeats  the  poet  in  the  contest  for  the  lady's  favor. 
On  this  framework  it  was  long  customary  to  build 
an  elaborate  study  of  Shakspere's  misfortunes  in 
love.  It  is  now  the  fashion  to  hold  rather  that 
Shakspere,  like  the  other  sonneteers,  was  merely 

i  Ibid.,  p.  54. 

2  Works,  Cambridge  edition,  Wm.  Aldis  Wright,  1893,  ix. 
p.  281  sq. 

3  Sidney  Lee,  Life  of  Shakspere,  pp.  88,  81). 


168  THE   ELIZABETHAN   LYRIC  [chap. 

using  conventional  subject-matter  in  a  conven- 
tional way.1  However  that  may  be,  the  passion- 
ate friendship  of  man  for  man,  as  intense  in  its 
expression  as  love  of  a  woman,  was  not  rare  in 
Elizabethan  literature,  and  had  already  been  cele- 
brated in  the  sonnet-form  by  Barnfield.  The  love 
of  a  woman  who  was  bound  to  some  one  else  was 
of  course  the  chief  motive  of  Astropliel.  Shakspere 
may  have  seen  the  dramatic  effect  of  combining 
the  two  themes.  As  the  sonnets  stand,  however, 
the  themes  are  slightly  mixed;  we  can  only 
guess  in  what  order  the  poet  would  have  arranged 
them  had  they  been  printed  under  his  care.  But 
whatever  their  order,  for  the  purposes  of  this  study 
it  is  sufficient  to  notice  how  they  include  all  the 
best  themes  of  preceding  sonnets,  and  how  those 
themes  are  modified  by  the  great  poet's  genius. 

The  first  twenty-six  sonnets,  devoted  to  the 
poet's  friend,  have  three  main  themes  —  advice  to 
the  youth  to  marry,  the  "  eternizing  "  theme,  and 
praise  of  the  friend's  beauty.  The  advice  to  marry 
takes  the  place  of  the  reproach  of  hard-heartedness 
in  the  earlier  series.  The  "  eternizing  "  theme,  the 
promise  to  make  his  friend  immortal  in  verse,  was 
also  familiar  to  Shakspere  from  its  use  by  his  con- 
temporaries, but  his  statement  of  it  is  by  far  the 
most  powerful  and  most  persistent  of  the  period. 
It  is  hard  not  to  believe  that  this  conventional 
theme  has  found  a  sincere  echo  in  the  heart  of  an 
1  Life  of  Shakspere,  p.  109  sq. 


v.J  THE   SONNET-SERIES  169 

ambitious  man.  The  third  theme  is  presented  in 
the  plea  that  should  the  poet  faithfully  portray 
his  friend,  no  one  would  believe  the  picture  —  a 
formula  of  compliment  that  we  have  already  met 
with.  The  three  themes  are  stated  together  in  the 
seventeenth  sonnet :  — 

"  If  I  could  write  the  beauty  of  your  eyes, 
And  iu  fresh  numbers  number  all  your  graces, 
The  age  to  come  would  say,  '  This  poet  lies ; 
Such  heavenly  touches  ne'er  touched  earthly  faces.' 
So  should  my  papers,  yellowed  with  their  age, 
Be  scorned,  like  old  men  of  less  truth  than  tongue, 
And  your  true  rights  be  termed  a  poet's  rage 
And  stretched  meter  of  an  antique  song  : 

But  were  some  child  of  yours  alive  that  time, 
You  should  live  twice,  in  it  and  in  my  rhyme."  x 

In  this  first  part  of  the  series,  especially  in  the 
admonition  of  his  friend  to  marry,  Shakspere  uses 
the  Renascence  plea  of  the  flight  of  time  and  the 
shortness  of  beauty's  spring.  But  it  is  character- 
istic of  these  sonnets  that  the  emphasis  is  always 
upon  the  approaching  decay,  rather  than  upon  the 
departing  bloom.  The  images  are  drawn  from 
autumn  and  winter,  not  from  spring :  — 

"  When  I  do  count  the  clock  that  tells  the  time, 
And  see  the  brave  day  sunk  in  hideous  night ; 
When  I  behold  the  violet  past  prime. 

Then  of  thy  beauty  do  I  question  make, 

That  thou  among  the  wastes  of  time  must  go,"  etc.2 

On  the  other  hand,  in  describing  the  beauty  of 
i  Works,  ix.  p.  290.  2  Ibid.,  p.  287. 


170  THE   ELIZABETHAN    LYRIC  [chap. 

his  friend,  Shakspere  adds  much  to  the  usual  son- 
neteer's conception  by  making  beauty  the  evolution 
of  an  ideal  —  the  dream  of  past  ages  come  true :  — 

"  Thus  all  their  praises  are  but  prophesies, 
Of  this  our  time,  all  you  prefiguring."  J 

This  is  quite  different  from  the  usual  comparison 
with  Helen  or  Venus,  or  other  beauties  of  the  old 
world,  though  Shakspere  has  also  an  example  of 
that.2 

In  addition  to  these  descriptions  of  his  friend, 
Shakspere  has,  in  the  latter  part  of  the  sequence, 
a  description  of  the  woman,  which,  on  account  of 
its  dominant  color,  has  made  its  subject  famous  in 
literary  tradition  as  the  "  Dark  Lady." 3  This 
description,  which  seems  at  first  sight  a  realist's 
revolt  against  the  formulas  of  golden  hair,  red 
lips,  and  lily  hands,  coincides  with  a  conventional 
portrait,  familiar  to  the  Elizabethans  from  Sidney's 
picture  of  the  dark-eyed  Stella.  It  is  as  old  in 
lyric  poetry  as  the  song  of  Theocritus :  "  They 
all  call  thee  a  gypsy,  gracious  Bombyca,  and  lean, 
and  sunburnt ;  'tis  only  I  that  call  thee  honey -pale. 
Yea,  and  the  violet  is  swart,  and  swart  the  lettered 
hyacinth,  but  yet  these  flowers  are  chosen  the  first 
in  garlands."  4 

Somewhat  akin  to  the  gloomy  tone  of  the  descrip- 
tion of  beauty,  mentioned  above,  is  the  sixty-ninth 
sonnet,  in  strong  contrast  with  Spenser's  descrip- 

1  Works,  ix.  p.  313.      "  Xo.  liii,  p.  311.     3  No.  cxxvii,  p.  355. 
4  Theocritus,  Bion,  and  Moschus,  Andrew  Lung,  p.  57. 


v.]  THE   SONNET-SERIES  171 

tion  of  his  mistress'  soul.  Referring  to  the  evil 
life  which  has  soiled  his  friend's  reputation,  the 
poet  tells  how  the  world  allows  physical  beauty  to 
the  youth,  but  judges  his  soul  by  his  actions  and 
finds  it  base :  — 

' '  They  look  into  the  beauty  of  thy  mind, 
And  that,  in  guess,  they  measure  by  thy  deeds  ; 
Then,  churls,  their  thoughts,  although  their  eyes  were  kind, 
To  thy  fair  flower  add  the  rank  smell  of  weeds."  1 

It  is  hard  to  say  how  much  Shakspere  gained 
from  Spenser,  but  there  are  many  points  of  simi- 
larity, such  as  the  sonnet  of  the  "  two  loves,  of 
comfort  and  despair." 2  This  is  but  a  different 
poetic  statement  of  Spenser's  sonnet,  mentioned 
before,3  on  the  conflict  of  earthly  and  spiritual  love. 

The  familiar  music-image  of  the  earlier  sonnets 
is  here  represented  by  the  sonnet  on  his  lady  play- 
ing the  virginal.4  What  was  before  a  literary  con- 
vention, Shakspere  makes  a  realistic  picture.  Those 
critics  who  argue  from  such  passages  as  this  that 
the  poet  had  any  specific  musical  knowledge,  quite 
overlook  the  fact  that  all  he  needed  to  find  such  an 
image  was  observation.  The  picture  is  natural, 
as  is  that  earlier  one  of  his  friend  listening  to 
music :  — 

"  Music  to  hear,  why  hearest  thou  music  sadly  ?  "  5 

Among  the  minor  points  of  similarity  with  pre- 
ceding sonneteers,  should  be  mentioned  the  punning 

1  Works,  ix.  p.  321.       2  Ibid.,  p.  144.       s  See  above,  p.  158. 
4  Works,  p.  128.  «  No.  viii,  p.  285. 


172  THE   ELIZABETHAN    LYRIC  [ciiap. 

sonnets  on  the  name  "  Will," '  and  the  occasional  use 
of  legal  terms.2  The  punning  sonnets,  as  we  have 
seen,  were  the  fashion  of  the  age,  continuations  of 
the  custom  set  by  Sidney.  The  use  of  legal  terms 
had  been  widely  practised,  especially  in  ZepTieria, 
and  had  been  parodied  by  Davies. 

The  familiar  theme  of  the  absent  mistress  present 
in  the  dreams  of  the  lover  reaches  probably  its  most 
important  expression  in  the  forty -third  sonnet :  — 
"  When  most  I  wink,  then  do  mine  eyes  best  see."  3 

Though  here  it  is  the  conventional  theme,  yet  there 
is  a  suggestion  also  of  the  older  idea,  made  promi- 
nent by  Chaucer,  that  the  true  lover  had  his  love's 
image  in  his  heart,  and  could  visualize  it  with  his 
eyes  closed. 

A  remarkable  sonnet  is  the  ninety-ninth,  which 
has  fifteen  lines.     The  first  line  — 

"  The  forward  violet  thus  did  I  chide."  4 

is  not  an  organic  part  of  the  sonnet,  but  is  abso- 
lutely necessary  to  the  understanding  of  the  image 
employed.  It  contains  the  lyric  impulse.  In  this 
respect  it  resembles  the  narrative  titles  of  many 
love-plaints  in  the  miscellanies,  which  serve  the 
same  purpose  of  introducing  the  lyric  stimulus. 

This  is  enough  to  show  Shakspere's  general  rela- 
tion to  the  earlier  sonnet-series.  The  originality 
of  his  genius  appears  in  the  treatment  of  the  ele- 

1  Nos.  cxxxv  and  cxxxvi,  p.  360.      3  Work.?,  p.  306. 

2  No.  cxxxiv,  p.  359.  4  Ibid.,  p.  33S. 


v.]  THE    SONNET-SERIES  173 

mental  passions  of  life,  such  as  friendship  and  love. 
These  themes  he  considers  for  their  own  sake,  some- 
times not  even  caring  to  relate  them  closely  to  the 
series.  Perhaps  because  they  are  motives  of  the 
broadest  human  significance,  they  are  the  best 
known.  The  typical  sonnet  on  friendship  is  the 
twenty-ninth :  — 

"  Wkeu  in  disgrace  with  fortune  and  men's  eyes." 1 

The  lark  image  in  the  last  quatrain,  so  closely  asso- 
ciated with  Shakspere's  lyric  mood,  here  adds  a 
new  theme  to  the  sonnet  tradition.  The  typical 
sonnet  of  love  is  the  hundred  and  sixteenth.  As 
a  praise  of  abstract  love  its  only  rival  in  Eliza- 
bethan song  is  Spenser's  Platonic  hymn;  but  in 
vigor  of  expression  and  in  lyric  force,  the  sonnet 
stands  alone :  — 

"  Love's  not  Time's  fool,  though  rosy  lips  and  cheeks 
Within  his  bending  sickle's  compass  come, 
Love  alters  not  with  his  brief  hours  and  weeks, 
But  bears  it  out  even  to  the  edge  of  doom. 
If  this  be  error,  and  upon  me  proved, 
I  never  writ,  nor  no  man  ever  loved."  2 

In  the  treatment  of  his  themes  Shakspere  shows 
two  interesting  habits.  The  first  is  the  use  of  very 
simple  and  realistic  images  to  express  conventional 
and  usually  ornate  ideas.  It  is  as  if  the  dramatist 
carried  over  into  sonneteering  the  homely  devices 
and  matter-of-fact  formulas  of  the  stage.  Such  a 
use  is  illustrated  by  the  thirty-fourth  sonnet :  — 

ilbid.,  p.  297.  '2  Ibid.,  p.  348. 


174  THE   ELIZABETHAN  LYRIC  [cnAr. 

"  Why  didst  thou  promise  such  a  beauteous  day, 
And  make  me  travel  forth  without  my  cloak, 
To  let  base  clouds  o'ertake  me  in  my  way  ?  "  * 

or  by  the  seventy -third :  — 

"That  time  of  year  thou  mayst  in  me  behold 
When  yellow  leaves,  or  none,  or  few,  do  hang 
Upon  those  boughs  which  shake  against  the  cold."  2 

The  second  of  Shakspere's  habits  is  his  constant 
experimenting  with  one  theme.  After  once  stating 
his  idea,  he  frequently  recasts  it  in  one  or  more 
following  sonnets.  This  has  been  noticed  in  earlier 
sonneteers,  but  with  Shakspere  the  trick  is  very 
barefaced.  It  is  one  of  the  best  reasons  adduced 
for  thinking  that  the  whole  series  is  more  or  less  a 
literary  exercise. 

The  one  quality  which  marks  this  sequence  as 
the  culmination  of  the  sonnet  period  is  the  perfec- 
tion of  lyric  form  in  the  case  of  half  a  dozen  son- 
nets. In  the  whole  period  there  are  hardly  a  score 
that  have  perfect  unity,  and  Shakspere  achieved  it 
more  often  than  any  other  sonneteer.  A  good  ex- 
ample of  such  lyric  form  is  the  hundred  and  fourth 
sonnet.3  The  stimulus,  which  is  an  idea  rather  than 
an  image,  is  presented  in  the  first  line  :  — 

"  To  me,  fair  friend,  you  never  can  be  old." 

In  the  next  seven  lines  this  motive  is  developed 
by  giving  the  reasons  for  the  poet's  confidence.  The 
images  used,  all  drawn  from  the  decay  of  nature, 

i  No.  cxxxiv,  p.  300.  2  Ibid.,  p.  323.         3  zbid.,  p.  341. 


v.]  THE   SONNET-SERIES  175 

suggest  almost  unconsciously  that  the  eternal  beauty 
of  the  "  fair  friend  "  must  be  an  exception :  — 

"  For  as  you  were  when  first  your  eye  I  eyed, 
Such  seems  your  beauty  still.     Three  winters  cold 
Have  from  the  forests  shook  three  summers'  pride, 
Three  beauteous  springs  to  yellow  autumn  turned 
In  process  of  the  seasons  have  I  seen, 
Three  April  perfumes  in  three  hot  Junes  burned, 
Since  first  I  saw  you  fresh,  which  yet  are  green." 

In  the  sextet,  Shakspere  keeps  the  English  form, 
but  adopts  the  cadence  of  the  Petrarchan  sonnet. 
This  cadence  permits  the  proper  lyric  development; 
the  suggestion  of  Nature's  decay  makes  the  poet 
fear  lest  his  affection  has  deceived  him;  perhaps 
his  friend's  beauty  is  changing.  The  mood  of  con- 
fidence changes  gradually  to  one  of  regret,  and  so 
ends : — 

"Ah,  yet  doth  beauty,  like  a  dial-hand, 
Steal  from  his  figure,  and  no  pace  perceived  ; 
So  your  sweet  hue,  which  methinks  still  doth  stand, 
Hath  motion,  and  mine  eye  may  be  deceived  : 
For  fear  of  which,  hear  this,  thou  age  unbred  ; 
Ere  you  were  born  was  beauty's  summer  dead." 


CHAPTER  VI 

OTHER   LYRISTS   OF   THE   SONNET  PERIOD 

The  lyric  poetry  of  the  last  decade  of  the  six- 
teenth century  was  dominated  by  Sidney  and 
Spenser.  Sidney's  influence  was  upon  the  son- 
net-sequences, as  has  been  noticed;  Spenser's  was 
upon  the  lyric  in  other  forms,  published  separately. 
In  1591  appeared  his  Daphnaida,1  an  elegy  on  the 
death  of  Douglas  Howard,  daughter  of  Henry, 
Lord  Howard.  This  poem  continues  the  pastoral 
tradition  in  so  far  as  it  is  an  eclogue,  in  which  the 
dirge  proper  is  introduced.  The  dirge  is  in  seven 
sections,  each  of  seven  stanzas  seven  lines  long. 
The  last  line  of  each  section  is  a  refrain :  — 

"  Weepe,  Shepheard  !  weepe,  to  make  my  undersong." 

The  dirge  is  not  a  strict  elegy  according  to  the 
Greek  model,  such  as  the  elegy  in  the  Sliepheards 
Calender.  The  order  of  the  themes  is  apparently 
haphazard,  and  there  is  no  note  of  consolation 
whatever.  Several  of  the  typical  elegiac  motives 
are  present,  however,  as  in  the  first  section,  where 
the  protest  against  untimely  death  is  stated  thus  :  — 

1  Works,  p.  542  sq. 
176 


chap.  vi.J  OTHER   LYRISTS  1 77 

"  She  fell  away  in  her  first  ages  spring, 
Whilst  yet  her  leafe  was  greene,  and  fresh  her  rinde, 
And  whilst  her  braunch  faire  blossomes  foorth  did  bring, 
She  fell  away  against  all  course  of  kinde. 
For  age  to  dye  is  right,  but  youth  is  wrong ; 
She  fell  away  like  fruit  blowne  downe  with  winde. 
Weepe,  Shepheard  !  weepe,  to  make  my  undersong."  1 

The  quotation  illustrates  the  stanza  employed 
throughout  the  poem  —  a  variation  of  the  rime 
royal.  Perhaps  Spenser  wished  to  avoid  the  epi- 
grammatic final  couplet  of  Chaucer's  stanza. 

The  only  other  theme  that  is  distinctly  reminis- 
cent of  the  Greek  model  is  the  complaint  that  the 
good  are  taken  and  the  less  worthy  spared.  As 
Spenser  here  states  it,  however,  it  is  rather  a  fatal- 
istic doctrine  than  a  complaint :  — 

"The  good  and  righteous  he  away  doth  take, 
To  plague  th'  unrighteous  which  alive  remaine  ; 
But  the  ungodly  ones  he  doth  forsake, 
By  living  long  to  multiplie  their  paine. "  2 

In  the  same  year  Spenser's  Complaints*  were 
published.  The  first  of  these  poems,  the  Ruines  of 
Time,  is  an  elegy  on  Sidney.  The  elegy  proper  is 
framed  in  an  allegory,  but  its  quality  is  lyrical. 
The  grief  expressed  is  at  first  general ;  the  poet 
mourns  the  passing  of  greatness  from  the  earth. 
Then  Sidney,  the  type  of  spiritual  greatness,  is 
mourned  in  a  tone  of  sincere  personal  sorrow.  The 
consolation,  the  third  division  of  the  Greek  elegy, 
is   here   found   in   the  contemplation  of   Sidney's 

i  Ibid.,  p.  545.  2  jMd.,  p.  54(3.  3  Ibid.,  p.  487  sq. 

N 


178  THE    ELIZABETHAN   LYRIC  [chap. 

spirit  in  eternal  bliss,  and  more  especially,  in  the 
immortality  which  song  will  bring  him.  Spenser 
takes  the  opportunity  of  paying  an  exalted  tribute 
to  the  "eternizing"  power  of  poetry:  — 

"Provide  therefore  (ye  Princes)  whilst  ye  live, 
That  of  the  Muses  ye  may  friended  bee, 
Which  unto  men  eternitie  do  give ; 
For  they  be  daughters  of  Dame  Memorie 
And  Jove,  the  father  of  eternitie, 
And  do  those  men  in  golden  thrones  repose, 
Whose  merits  they  to  glorify  do  chose. 

The  sevenfold  yron  gate  of  grislie  Hell, 

And  horrid  house  of  sad  Proserpina, 

They  able  are  with  power  of  mightie  spell 

To  breake,  and  thence  the  soules  to  bring  awaie 

Out  of  dread  darknesse  to  eternall  day, 

And  them  immortall  make,  which  els  would  die 

In  foule  forgetfulnesse,  and  naineles  lie."  1 

The  other  lyrical  poems  in  the  volume  were 
the  Teares  of  the  Muses,  Bellay's  Ruines  of  Rome 
translated,  the  Visions  of  the  Worlds  Vanitie,  the 
Visions  of  Bella}/,  and  the  Visions  of  Petrarch. 
The  first  is  a  long  poem  on  the  decay  of  learning 
and  art.  Spenser  would  seem  here  to  be  quite 
unconscious  of  the  great  poetic  age  already  dawn- 
ing. Each  of  the  Muses  is  introduced  in  turn  and 
makes  her  complaint  of  neglect.  Though  Spenser 
attains  a  certain  dignity  of  utterance  in  these 
speeches,  lyrical  emotion  is  in  a  large  measure 
absent  from  them,  and  they  have  little  lyric  devel- 

1  Works,  p.  493. 


ti.]  OTHER   LYRISTS  179 

opment.  Perhaps  the  cause  is  the  preponderance 
of  thought  and  philosophy  in  the  subject ;  as  in  his 
Platonic  hymns,  Spenser's  lyric  gifts  are  hidden  by 
the  exposition  of  doctrine.  In  one  or  two  passages, 
however,  this  exposition  almost  attains  the  exalted 
mood  of  song,  as  in  these  words  of  Urania :  — 

"  Through  knowledge  we  behold  the  worlds  creation, 
How  in  his  cradle  first  he  fostred  was  ; 
And  judge  of  Natures  cunning  operation, 
How  things  she  formed  of  a  formelesse  mas : 
By  knowledge  wee  do  learne  ourselves  to  knowe 
And  what  to  man,  and  what  to  God,  wee  owe. 

From  hence  wee  mount  aloft  unto  the  skie, 

And  looke  into  the  Christall  firmament : 

There  we  behold  the  heavens  great  Hierarchie, 

The  Starres  pure  light,  the  Spheres  swift  movement, 

The  Spirits  and  Intelligences  fayre, 

And  Angels  waighting  on  th'  Almighties  chayre. 

And  there,  with  humble  minde  and  high  insight, 
Th'  Eternall  Maker's  majestie  wee  viewe, 
His  love,  his  truth,  his  glorie,  and  his  might, 
And  mercie  more  than  mortall  man  can  vew. 
O  soveraigne  Lord  !     O  soveraigne  happinesse, 
To  see  thee,  and  thy  mercie  measurelesse  !  "  1 

The  translations  of  Bellay's  Ruines  of  Rome,  like 
the  remaining  lyrical  poems  in  the  volume,  are  de- 
voted to  the  contemplation  of  the  transitoriness  of 
human  greatness.  The  poem  is  a  succession  of 
English  sonnets,  related  only  by  the  theme  common 
to  all  —  the  praise  of  Rome  in  its  power,  and  the 
picture  of  it  in  decay.  The  twenty-third  sonnet 
i  Ibid.,  p.  502. 


180  THE   ELIZABETHAN   LYRIC  [chap. 

introduces  a  moral  note  by  laying  the  blame  of 
Rome's  fall  on  luxurious  living.  The  next  sonnet 
continues  this  mood  by  asking  what  old  sin  was  it 
that  needed  such  atoning  in  the  city's  perpetual 
wars.  The  series  ends  with  an  envoy,  a  compli- 
ment to  Bellay's  art :  — 

"  Needes  must  he  all  eternitie  survive, 
That  can  to  other  give  eteruall  dayes."  x 

The  Visions  of  the  Worlds  Vanitie  is  an  imitation 
of  the  following  poems,  Bellay's  Visions  and  Pe- 
trarch's ;  it  may  therefore  be  taken  as  typical  of 
them.  It  is  a  series  of  sonnets  in  each  of  which 
is  presented  a  fable  illustrating  the  occasional 
success  of  the  weak  over  the  strong.  In  the 
fifth  sonnet,  for  example,  the  poet  sees  a  whale 
slain  by  a  swordfish,  and  learns  therefore  not  to 
despise  — 

"  Whatever  thing  seems  small  in  common  eyes."  2 

The  eleven  other  sonnets  all  teach  the  same  prin- 
ciples of  life.  In  the  Visions  of  Bellay  the  truth 
illustrated  is  that  there  is  no  stability  in  earthly 
greatness.  The  poet  sees  a  palace  of  crystal  stand- 
ing one  moment,  and  wrecked  by  an  earthquake  the 
next.  In  the  Visions  of  Petrarch  the  motive  is  the 
same. 

With  the  exception  of  the  Teares  of  the  Muses, 
these  poems  are,  as  has  been  seen,  translations  and 
paraphrases.  It  is  hardly  by  accident  that  they  all 
i  Works,  p.  531.  2  Ibid.,  p.  537. 


vi.]  OTHER   LYRISTS  181 

express  the  moral  side  of  the  Renascence.  The  re- 
volt against  the  conventional  amorous  subjects  of 
the  sonnets,  indicated  by  Constable's  and  Barnes's 
spiritual  sequences,  was  but  one  manifestation  of 
the  new  and  deeper  vein  of  thought,  which,  perhaps 
inspired  by  the  combination  of  the  Renascence  and 
the  Reformation,  certainly  ennobled  by  Spenser's 
Platonic  genius,  was  to  culminate  in  Milton. 
Within  the  limits  of  this  study,  it  will  be  seen  to 
run  parallel  with  the  lighter,  courtlier  lyric  motives 
such  as  characterize  especially  the  song-books.  It 
should  be  noted  that  this  rather  gloomy  moralizing 
does  not  become  a  literary  fashion  as  do  the  son- 
neteering and  the  song-writing;  it  is  found  in  the 
separate  publications  of  individual  poets. 

In  this  same  year,  1591,  was  published  Michael 
Drayton's  Harmony  of  the  Church,1  a  series  of  lyrics 
founded  on  Biblical  stories  or  paraphrased  from 
songs  in  the  Bible.  The  Song  of  Solomon  and  the 
Song  of  Deborah  are  typical  of  the  subjects.  The 
volume  is  a  sacred  miscellany,  taking  its  general 
form  from  the  popular  methods  of  publishing,  and 
deriving  its  subject-matter  from  that  moral  and 
religious  thought-movement  which  has  just  been  no- 
ticed. The  trend  which  the  book  illustrates  is  more 
important  than  the  lyrics  it  contains  ;  they  are  not  in 
Drayton's  best  manner.  In  fact,  all  that  the  poet 
accomplishes  by  his  paraphrasing  is  to  destroy  the 

1  Complete  Works,  the  Rev.  Richard  Hooper,  3  vols.,  Lon- 
don, 1876. 


182  THE   ELIZABETHAN   LYRIC  [chap. 

rhythm  of  the  Biblical  prose.     A  fair  example  is 

this  stanza  from  the  Song  of  Miriam:  — 

"  The  Lord  Jehovah  is  a  man  of  war  ; 
Pharaoh,  his  chariots,  and  his  mighty  host, 
Were  by  His  Hand,  in  the  wild  waters  lost, 
His  captains  drowned  in  the  Red  Sea  so  far."  x 

Drayton,  who,  next  to  Spenser,  is  the  prominent 
lyrist  of  this  decade,  published  in  1593  an  imita- 
tion of  the  Sliepheards  Calender,  called  the  Shep- 
heards  Garland.2  The  volume  consists  of  nine 
eclogues,  in  which  occur  several  lyrics.  The  first 
eclogue  is  a  love-plaint  of  a  familiar  type ;  the  poet 
beholds  the  return  of  spring,  and  grieves  the  more 
over  his  unhappy  passion.  The  second  eclogue  has 
for  its  subject  the  vanity  of  life.  It  contains  one 
fine  lyric  in  praise  of  love  which  is  Platonic  in 
motive ;  love  is  addressed  as  the  power  that  ele- 
vates the  human  mind  in  the  pursuit  of  beauty  — 
a  familiar  theme  with  Spenser  also,  especially  in 
the  Amoretti.  Drayton's  brief  passage  of  three 
stanzas  has  hardly  sufficient  length  for  proper 
lyric  development,  but  its  emotional  quality  is 
strong  :  — 

"  0  divine  love,  which  so  aloft  canst  raise, 
And  lift  the  mind  out  of  this  earthly  mire, 
And  dost  inspire  the  pen  with  so  hie  prayse, 
As  with  the  heavens  doth  equal  man's  desire,"  etc.3 

The  third  eclogue  is  a  conventional  praise  of  a 
shepherdess,  Beta.     Only  the  meter  of  the  poem 

i  Complete  Works,  iii.  p.  244.  3  Ibid.,  p.  9. 

2  Reprinted  by  Collier. 


vi.]  OTHER   LYRISTS  183 

need  be  mentioned.  The  stanza  is  composed  of  six 
lines ;  an  alexandrine  and  a  septenary,  a  couplet 
in  tetrapody  verse,  and  a  couplet  of  septenaries. 
The  sharp  variation  in  the  speed  of  the  lines  is  not 
altogether  pleasant :  — 

"O  thou  faire  silver  Thames :  0  cleerest  chrystal  flood, 
Beta  alone  the  Phenix  is,  of  all  thy  watery  brood, 
The  Queene  of  virgins  only  she  : 
And  thou  the  Queene  of  floods  shalt  be  : 
Let  all  thy  nymphs  be  joyful  then,  to  see  this  happy  day, 
Thy  Beta  now  alone  shall  be  the  subject  of  my  lay." 1 

The  fourth  eclogue  is  perhaps  best  known  because 
it  contains  an  elegy  on  Sidney.  It  is  not  a  Greek 
elegy,  but  a  personal  song  of  the  miscellany  type. 
The  fifth  eclogue,  a  pictorial  description  of  the 
poet's  mistress ;  the  sixth,  in  praise  of  the  "  Muse 
of  Brittanye";  the  eighth,  a  ballad  in  the  meter 
and  manner  of  Chaucer's  Sir  Thopas,  and  the  ninth, 
a  love-plaint  —  all  are  too  obvious  to  need  further 
mention.  The  seventh,  however,  in  reproof  of 
love,  is  a  remarkable  example  of  the  extent  to 
which  the  Elizabethan  metrists  practised  syn- 
copation. In  some  lines  of  this  tetrapody  move- 
ment every  word  bears  the  accent,  an  effect  that 
has  been  noted  already  in  Spenser,  Drayton's 
model. 

"  Oh  spightfull  wayward  wretched  love, 
Woe  to  Venus  which  did  nurse  thee, 
Heavens  and  earth  thy  plagues  do  prove, 
Gods  and  men  have  cause  to  curse  thee. 

i Ibid.,  p.  50. 


184:  THE    ELIZABETHAN  LYRIC  [chap. 

Thought's  grief,  heart's  woe, 
Hope's  paine,  bodies  languish, 
Envies  rage,  sleepes  foe, 
Fancies  fraud,  soules  anguish,"  etc.1 

In  1595  appeared  Eobert  Southwell's  St.  Peter's 
Complaint,  a  book  of  sacred  verse,  containing  be- 
sides the  title  poem  a  number  of  short  lyrics.2 
The  title  poem  is  a  very  long  lament  by  St.  Peter 
over  his  denial  of  Christ.  Without  possessing 
lyric  form,  it  has  the  same  dramatic  lyrical  quality 
that  is  seen  in  the  Anglo-Saxon  poem  of  the 
Wanderer.  The  power  of  emotional  expression 
is  very  strong.  A  better  example,  however,  of 
Southwell's  genius  and  method  is  the  second 
piece  in  the  book,  Mary  Magdalen's  Blushe.  Mary 
speaks : — 

"  The  signes  of  shame  that  stayne  my  blushing  face, 
Rise  from  the  feelinge  of  my  raving  fittes  !  "  etc.3 

She  makes  the  blush,  which  is  the  lyric  stimulus 
of  the  poem,  a  symbol  of  the  conflict  in  her  soul 
between  "  sense  "  and  "  grace,"  to  use  Southwell's 
terms.  This  mystical  allegorizing  is  the  first 
characteristic  of  his  work.  The  manner  in  which 
he  accomplishes  it  is  sometimes  hard;  otherwise 
it  would  be  easy  to  connect  him  with  the  seven- 
teenth-century "  metaphysicians  "  like  Vaughan. 
The  same  method  reappears   in   another   form  in 

1  Complete  Works,  iii.  p.  50. 

2  Complete  Poems,  A.  B.  Grosart,  Fuller  Worthies  Library, 
1872.  3  ibia.t  p.  59. 


vi.]  OTHER   LYRISTS  185 

the  third  lyric,  Mary  Magdalen's  Complaint  at 
Christ's  Death.  The  purpose  of  this  poem,  instead 
of  reflecting  Mary's  soul  in  a  physical  symbol,  is 
to  typify  by  her  grief  the  proper  doctrinal  attitude 
toward  Christ.  The  method  here  is  very  subtle, 
a  mere  play  on  words ;  the  first  three  stanzas 
repeat  the  formula  that  since  life  has  departed 
from  life,  death  should  take  away  whatever  life 
remains :  — 

"  Sith  my  life  from  life  is  parted, 
Death  come  take  thy  portion  ; 
Who  survives  when  life  is  ruurdred, 
Lives  by  mere  extortion,"  etc.1 

The  literary  merits  of  Southwell's  lyrics  are 
intellectual  rather  than  emotional.  No  matter 
how  earnest  he  is  in  his  subject-matter,  the  ex- 
pression usually  is  attractive  for  its  cleverness. 
For  example,  he  finds  a  new  and  effective  use  for 
a  title  in  the  poem,  A  Childe  My  Choyce.'2  It  is  the 
familiar  hymn  of  praise  to  Christ,  but  a  certain 
surprise  is  secured  to  the  subject  by  the  misleading 
title,  which  is  more  apt  to  suggest  human  affection. 

Southwell's  most  frequent  manner,  and  most 
unattractive,  is  in  the  gnomic  or  proverbial  vein 
already  familiar  in  the  moral  poems  of  the  miscel- 
lanies. It  is  recognizable  in  such  titles  as  Losse 
in  Delaye.  In  these  lyrics,  if  he  sometimes  be- 
comes imaginative,  it  is  noteworthy  that  the  image 
also  is  proverbial,  as  in  this  very  poem  :  — 
*  Ibid.,  p.  62.  *  Ibid.,  p.  70. 


186  THE   ELIZABETHAN   LYRIC  [chap. 

"Tyme  weares  all  his  lockes  before, 
Take  thy  hold  upon  his  forehead ; 
When  he  flies  he  turnes  no  more, 
And  behind  his  scalpe  is  naked."  * 

When  Southwell  attempts  a  subject  at  once  con- 
ventional and  yet  capable  of  emotional  treatment, 
he  is  at  his  best;  such  a  subject  he  finds  in  the 
birth  of  Christ.  The  poem,  New  Prince,  New 
Pompe,  echoes  the  Middle  English  theme  of  the 
Saviour  born  to  poverty ;  Southwell  comforts 
himself  with  the  old  doctrine  of  humility :  — 

"  This  stable  is  a  Prince's  courte, 
This  cribb  His  chair  of  State."  2 

The  best  lyric,  however,  and  the  best  known  of 
all  Southwell's  poems,  is  the  Burning  Babe.3  Per- 
haps it  is  prized  the  more  because  Ben  Jonson 
admired  it.  It  has  Southwell's  characteristic  meta- 
physical bent,  and  his  gnomic  faculty  appears  in 
the  details  of  the  allegory.  But  in  intensity  of 
feeling  it  is  almost  unique  among  his  lyrics,  and 
in  metrical  form  it  represents  probably  the  finest 
use  of  the  septenary  in  the  whole  Elizabethan 
period. 

The  given  quotations  serve  to  illustrate  South- 
well's lyrical  quality  and  his  metrical  acquire- 
ments. As  has  been  indicated,  he  is  a  new  figure 
among  Elizabethan  lyrists.  His  poetic  gifts  are 
few;  he  might  just  as  well  have  written  all  his 
works  in  prose.     But  since  verse  was  the  medium 

i  Complete  Poems,  p.  76.      2  Ibid.,  p.  108.       3  Ibid.,  p.  109. 


vi.]  OTHER   LYRISTS  187 

in  which  he  chose  to  express  his  intense  religious 
emotion  and  his  fine  intellect,  those  undoubted 
qualities  of  heart  and  mind,  even  when  their 
expression  is  inadequate,  may  be  accepted  for 
themselves. 

In  the  same  year,  1595,  appeared  Astrophel,  a 
collection  of  elegies  by  Spenser  and  others,  on  Sir 
Philip  Sidney.1  The  title  poem,  which  is  linked 
with  the  two  following  lyrics  by  narrative  sections, 
attempts  to  raise  Sidney's  story  to  the  level  of  a 
myth.  The  general  tone  of  this  narrative-lyric  is 
Greek  and  suggests  the  Homeric  Hymns.  Astro- 
phel's  genius  and  accomplishments  are  described ; 
then  his  popularity  among  all  men,  and  especially 
the  love  between  him  and  Stella ;  all  his  songs  were 
for  her,  and  all  his  brave  deeds;  while  fighting  in 
her  honor  he  was  killed ;  she  died  of  grief ;  the  gods 
turned  them  into  flowers  —  Penthia  or  Starlight, 
and  Astrophel. 

The  second  lyric,  supposed  to  have  been  written 
by  the  Countess  of  Pembroke,  is  nearer  to  the 
normal  Greek  elegy.  The  woods  and  sylvan  deities 
are  invoked  to  assist  in  lamentations  for  Astrophel. 
Then  the  motive  of  untimely  death  is  introduced:  — 

"  What  cruell  hand  of  cursed  foe  unknowne, 
Hath  cropt  the  stalke  which  bore  so  faire  a  flowre  ? 
Untimely  cropt,  before  it  well  were  growne, 
And  cleane  defaced  in  untimely  houre."  2 

Then  the  elegy  returns  for  a  moment  to  the  con- 

1  Spenser's  Works,  p.  559.  2  Ibid.,  p.  562. 


188  THE    ELIZABETHAN  LYRIC  [chap. 

templatiou  of  Sidney's  loss ;  who  now  can  sing  such 

songs  ?     Let  no  one  longer  rejoice  in  this  life,  now 

he  is  gone.     The  religious  and  Platonic  tendencies 

of  this  decade  show  themselves  in  an  inquiry  after 

the  dead  poet's  soul :  — 

"  But  that  immortall  spirit,  which  was  dekt 
With  all  the  dowries  of  celestiall  grace, 
By  soveraine  choyce  from  th'  hevenly  quires  select, 
And  lineally  derived  from  Angels  race, 
O  !  what  is  now  of  it  become  aread. 
Ay  me  !  can  so  divine  a  thing  be  dead  ! 

Ah  !  no  ;  it  is  not  dead,  ne  can  it  die 
But  lives  for  aie,  in  blissful  Paradise."  x 

The  elegy  ends  with  the  contemplation  of  the 
soul  receiving  its  merited  reward. 

The  third  poem,  supposed  to  have  been  written 
by  Lodowick  Bryskett,2  is  very  ornate  in  style,  but 
its  structure  is  simple.  It  is  divided  into  four  sec- 
tions. In  the  first,  the  nymphs  are  invoked  to 
mourn  the  death  of  Sidney,  taken  away  like  an 
untimely  flower.  In  the  second  part,  Sidney's 
deathbed  is  described,  in  which  scene  several  classi- 
cal deities  appear ;  in  the  third  section  is  described 
Stella's  mourning,  and  in  the  fourth,  the  poet  con- 
soles himself  with  the  thought  of  Sidney's  happiness 
in  Paradise  and  of  his  fame  on  earth.3 

The  fourth  poem,  a  Pastorall  ^Egloguef  contains 

i  Spenser's  Works,  p.  562.  2  jfad.,  p.  563. 

3  This  elegy  has  acquired  a  certain  position  in  literature  from 
the  theory  that  Milton  was  influenced  hy  it  in  writing  Lycidas. 
Cf.  Guest,  English  Rhythms,  W.  W.  Skeat,  p.  265. 

4  Spenser's  Works,  ;>.  566. 


vi.]  OTHER   LYRISTS  189 

a  lyrical  passage  in  which  the  alternate  strophes 
are  sung  by  two  shepherds.  This  funeral  song 
has  but  slight  lyric  development.  The  first  three 
strophes  are  devoted  to  the  praise  of  Sidney  and 
of  Stella,  and  to  pastoral  expressions  of  grief  at 
his  death.  The  last  strophe  finds  the  same  religious 
consolation  as  the  preceding  elegies.  The  remain- 
ing poems  in  the  collection,  one  by  Matthew  Royden, 
one  by  Sir  Walter  Raleigh,  the  elegy  that  we  have 
mentioned  before,1  and  one  by  an  unknown  writer, 
are  entirely  of  the  same  kind  as  these  examples, 
and  need  no  further  discussion. 

In  the  same  year  the  Amoretti  were  published, 
with  their  crowning  love-song,  the  EpitJictiamium* 
This  splendid  poem  is  considered  by  many  critics 
the  foremost  of  Elizabethan  lyrics.  It  illustrates 
the  many-sided  tastes  of  the  pastoral  lyrists.  It  is 
idyllic  in  method ;  the  emotion  is  advanced  through 
a  series  of  lyric  units,  each  inspired  by  a  separate 
picture.  Strictly  speaking,  each  stanza,  with  its 
own  inspiration,  is  a  song  in  itself,  and  the  com- 
plete poem  is  a  series  rather  than  an  organic  whole. 
But  the  lyrical  emotion  aroused  by  all  the  motives 
is  the  same  in  every  case,  so  that,  in  the  broad 
sense,  it  would  be  difficult  to  deny  unity  to  the 
poem.  In  the  subject-matter,  as  well  as  in  the 
emotion,  unity  is  secured  by  describing  the  events 
of  one  day  in  order  from  daybreak  to   midnight. 

Out  of  the  idyllic  method  come  the  chief  orna- 
i  See  above,  p.  89.  2  Works,  p.  587. 


190  THE   ELIZABETHAN   LYRIC  [chap. 

merits  of  the  lyric  —  the  many  exquisite  pictures. 
The  poet  in  his  delight  turns  rapidly  from  one 
vision  to  another,  and  paints  what  he  sees  in  an 
exclamation.  Elaborate  in  detail  as  many  stanzas 
are,  they  seem  to  render  their  meaning  all  at  once, 
almost  in  a  word ;  there  is  no  evidence  of  labored 
preparation.  Perhaps  the  most  charming  picture 
is  that  of  the  bride  before  the  altar.  It  is  the 
triumph  of  lyric  description;  the  poet  inspires  in 
the  reader  through  the  picture  the  very  emotion 
that  it  inspired  in  him  :  — 

"Behold,  whiles  she  before  the  altar  stands, 
Hearing  the  holy  priest  that  to  her  speakes, 
And  blesseth  her  with  his  two  happy  hands, 
How  the  red  roses  flush  up  in  her  cheekes, 
And  the  pure  snow,  with  goodly  verniill  stayne 
Like  crimsin  dyde  in  grayne."  * 

The  mass  of  curious  erudition  in  this  lyric  is 
characteristic  of  Spenser  and  his  times.  The 
wonder  is  that  the  singing  quality  of  the  lines  is 
so  little  retarded  by  it.  To  Spenser  the  muses 
were  indeed  "  ye  learned  sisters."  He  uses  astron- 
omy in  Chaucer's  elaborate  fashion  to  fix  the  date 
of  the  wedding-day.  He  expounds  in  one  winged 
stanza  half  a  dozen  points  of  folk-lore.  On  classi- 
cal mythology  he  has  ever  a  ready  word ;  twenty- 
four  deities  are  mentioned,  and  their  functions 
described;  the  poet  can  even  stop  to  enlarge  on 
an  unfamiliar  legend  of  Diana. 

1  Spenser's  Works,  p.  589. 


VI.]  OTHER   LYRISTS  191 

This  pagan  background  is  made  to  accord, 
strangely  enough,  with  the  thoroughly  Christian 
elements  in  the  poem.  To  mingle  the  two  systems 
was  not  indeed  unusual  with  Renascence  poets,  but 
Spenser  justifies  the  use  by  making  the  pagan  deities 
represent  the  mystery  of  nature,  and  confining  the 
Christian  system  to  the  expression  of  the  soul ;  so 
that  there  is  no  conflict.  He  realizes  this  pagan 
sense  of  the  mysterious  personality  in  nature  best 
in  the  lovely  prayer  to  the  rising  moon :  — 

"  Who  is  the  same,  which  at  my  window  peepes ; 
Or  whose  is  that  faire  face  that  shines  so  bright  ? 
Is  it  not  Cinthia,  she  that  never  sleepes, 
But  walkes  about  high  heaven  al  the  night  ? 
O  !  fayrest  goddesse,  do  thou  not  envy 
My  love  with  me  to  spy  ; 
For  thou  likewise  didst  love,"  etc.1 

If  each  motive  in  the  Epithalamium  be  considered 
by  itself,  it  will  appear  that  Spenser  has  used 
entirely  conventional  material.  The  effect  of  the 
whole,  however,  is  spontaneous.  The  explanation 
is  that  the  poet  has  designed  situations  out  of 
which  the  old  motives  seem  naturally  to  rise.  For 
example,  as  the  poem  is  the  culmination  of  his 
sonnets,  and  as  a  favorite  theme  in  the  sonnet- 
series  is,  as  we  have  seen,  the  physical  description 
of  the  lady,  it  is  but  natural  that  Spenser  should 
have  such  a  description  here.  He  puts  new  life 
into  the  theme,  however,  by  describing  his  mistress 

i  Ibid.,  p.  591. 


192  THE   ELIZABETHAN   LYRIC  [chap. 

at  the  moment  "when,  after  long  and  impatient  wait- 
ing, he  catches  the  first  sight  of  her,  dressed  for 
her  bridal.  The  extravagant  terms  of  the  sonnets, 
"  ivory  forehead,"  "  cherry  lips,"  and  "  eyes  like 
saphyres,"  here  seem  not  only  excusable  but  natu- 
ral, because  we  already  understand  the  poet's  love- 
delirium.  The  elevation  of  tone  is  sustained  here 
also  by  the  added  description  of  the  lady's  spiritual 
and  mental  virtues  —  the  Platonic  touch. 

The  external  form  of  the  Epithalamium  is  that 
of  a  rather  irregular  canzone}  Xot  all  the  stanzas 
have  the  same  number  of  lines,  but  they  approxi- 
mate a  common  form,  and  the  envoy  to  the  bride  is 
quite  in  the  spirit  of  a  commiato.  In  the  average 
stanza  the  only  irregularity  is  an  extra  short  line 
in  the  second  piede ;  the  other  parts  are  quatrains, 
with  two  lines  forming  the  concatenazione  between 
the  fronte  and  the  sirima.  A  good  example  is  the 
eleventh  stanza :  — 

"  But  if  ye  saw  that  which  no  eyes  can  see, 
The  inward  beauty  of  her  lively  spright, 
Garnisht  with    heavenly  guifts  of    high 

degree, 
Much  more  then  would  ye  wonder  at  that 

sight, 

And  stand  astonisht  lyke  to  those  which  red 

Medusaes  mazeful  hed. 

There    dwels    sweet  love,  and    constant 

chastity, 
Unspotted  fayth,  and  comely  womanhood, 
Regard  of  honour,  and  mild  modesty  ; 

1  Cf.  the  account  of  the  canzone  form,  chapter  ix.  p.  295- 


Piede 


Piede 


VI.] 


OTHER   LYRISTS 


193 


Concatenazione 


Volta 


Volta 


There  vertue  raynes  as  Queene  in  royal 

throne, 
And  giveth  lawes  alone, 

The  which  the  base  affections  do  obay, 
And  yeeld  theyr  services  unto  her  will ; 
Ne  thought  of  thing  uncomely  ever  may 
Thereto  approch  to  tempt  her  mind  to  ill. 

Had    ye  once   seene    these   her  celestial 

threasures, 
And  unrevealed  pleasures, 
Then  would  ye  wonder,  and  her  praises  sing, 
That  al  the  woods  should  answer,  and  your 

echo  ring."  1 


In  1596  appeared  Spenser's  Foin-e  Hymnes  and  the 
Prothalamium.2  The  hymns  are  chiefly  important 
for  their  subject-matter,  and  belong  properly  to  a 
study  of  Platonism  rather  than  to  a  history  of  the 
lyric.  In  manner  they  are  narrative  or  didactic; 
yet  their  great  melody  and  their  personal  emotion 
and  rapture  give  them,  if  not  lyric  form,  at  least 
very  high  lyrical  quality.  In  the  Hymne  in  Honour 
of  Love,  love  is  explained  to  be  the  principle  that 
brought  chaos  into  order,  and  cradled  the  world. 
Man,  partaking  of  a  heavenly  nature,  desires  the 
heavenly  object  of  love,  which  is  beauty.  Love, 
then,  the  tyrant  god,  delights  in  piercing  human 
hearts  with  his  arrow,  and  makes  beauty  coy,  that 
so  he  may  try  the  loyalty  of  his  servants.  The 
poem  ends  with  a  description  of  the  paradise  to 
which  Love  admits  those  of  his  servants  who  prove 
faithful. 

i  Speuser's  Works,  p.  589.  2  md.,  p.  592. 

o 


194  THE   ELIZABETHAN  LYRIC  [chap. 

The  Ilymne  in  Honour  of  Beautie  1  is  devoted  to 
the  praise  of  this  Platonic  conception  of  the  ob- 
ject of  love.  In  fashioning  the  world,  the  Creator 
had  before  him  a  pattern,  an  ideal.  Wherever 
that  ideal  appears,  it  is  what  we  call  beauty.  It 
is  to  beauty  in  this  sense  that  true  love  dedicates 
itself;  the  attraction  of  earthy  color  and  charm, 
fair  lips  and  bright  eyes,  is  too  transitory  to  hold 
the  eternal  affections  of  the  soul.  The  souls  that 
have  most  divine  beauty  acquire  outward  beauty  in 
their  bodies :  — 

"  Eor  of  the  soule  the  bodie  forme  doth  take  ; 
For  soule  is  forme,  and  doth  the  bodie  make."  2 

The  two  exceptions  to  this  law  are  recognized ; 
sometimes  a  fair  soul  inhabits  a  deformed  body, 
and  sometimes  a  fair  body  is  abused  in  sin.  It 
follows  that  all  true  lovers  should  be  faithful  to 
the  original  pattern  or  ideal.  For  each  lover  a 
companion  is  foreordained:  — 

"  For  Love  is  a  celestiall  harmouie 
Of  likely  harts  composed  of  starres  consent, 
Which  joyne  together  in  sweete  sympathie, 
To  worke  ech  others  joy  and  true  content, 
Which  they  have  harbourd  since  their  first  descent 
Out  of  the  heavenly  bowres  where  they  did  see 
And  know  each  other  here  beloved  to  bee."  3 

The  poem  ends  with  a  prayer  to  Love  and  Venus, 
to  assist  the  poet  in  winning  her  whose  "  conquer- 
ing beautie  "  has  taken  captive  his  heart. 

i  Spenser's  Works,  p.  596.      2  Ibid.,  p.  597.      «  Ibid.,  p.  598. 


vi.]  OTHER   LYRISTS  195 

In  the  Hymne  of  Heavenly  Love 1  the  poet  applies 
the  same  poetic  method  and  the  same  Platonic 
theories  to  spiritual  love,  as  before  he  had  applied 
to  human  passion.  He  tells  how,  in  the  beginning, 
God,  enamored  of  His  own  beauty,  begot  the 
other  persons  of  the  Trinity;  then,  of  the  same 
love,  He  created  the  angels;  after  they  rebelled, 
He  created  man  to  fill  their  place;  then,  after 
man  too  had  fallen,  He  redeemed  him  with  the 
sacrifice  of  Christ.  The  poet  then  exhorts  men 
to  follow  this  example  of  unselfish  love. 

The  Hymne  of  Heavenly  Beautie 2  is  the  least  suc- 
cessful of  the  four  lyrics.  Its  object  is  too  sub- 
lime even  for  Spenser's  lofty  mood,  and  in  the 
attempt  to  indicate  his  fine  conceptions,  he  takes 
all  but  trained  scholastic  minds  out  of  their  depth. 
The  poem  is  more  intellectual  and  less  lyrical  in 
quality  than  the  other  three.  The  firmament  is 
taken  as  the  first  type  of  divine  beauty ;  then,  in 
the  next  grade,  the  sun  and  moon  are  contemplated ; 
then  the  miseen  stars,  and  the  borders  of  that 
heaven  wherein  dwells  the  First  Cause;  then  the 
habitation  of  human  souls  in  bliss ;  then  the  region 
of  ideas,  in  the  Platonic  sense,  and  of  pure  intelli- 
gence ;  then  through  still  higher  conceptions  of 
beauty  the  poet  contemplates  the  image  of  God 
himself. 

The  Prothalamium,3  published  the  same  year, 
was  written  in  honor  of  the  double  wedding  of  the 
i  Ibid.,  p.  599.  z  Ibid.,  p.  602.  8  jj,^.,  p.  605. 


196  THE   ELIZABETHAN   LYRIC  [chap. 

Earl  of  Worcester's  daughters,  Lady  Elizabeth  and 
Lady  Katherine.  This  song,  from  the  nature  of  its 
subject,  suggests  comparison  with  the  Epithala- 
niinin.  It  is  written  in  a  similar  stanza,  approxi- 
mating the  Italian  canzone,  though  lacking  the 
commiato.  It  is  complimentary  rather  than  passion- 
ate in  tone,  having  none  of  the  spontaneity  with 
which  the  poet  greeted  his  own  marriage  day.  The 
pictures,  in  the  same  idyllic  manner,  are  carefully 
elaborated,  and  the  carefulness  is  perceptible.  The 
structure  of  the  poem  is  narrative  rather  than  lyric. 
The  poet,  standing  on  the  banks  of  the  Thames, 
sees  a  group  of  nymphs  gathering  posies.  AVhile 
he  watches  them,  two  swans  of  marvellous  white- 
ness come  down  the  river.  The  nymphs  greet  the 
birds  with  delight,  strewing  their  flowers  on  the 
water,  and  crowning  the  swans  with  garlands.  One 
of  the  nymphs  greets  them  with  a  wedding-song  — 
the  poet's  device  for  a  direct  complimentary  ad- 
dress. Then  the  birds  proceed  to  the  Earl  of  Som- 
erset's castle  on  the  Thames,  where  they  are  met 
and  wedded  by  the  bridegrooms.  There  is  a  re- 
markable blending  of  imagery  and  realistic  scenery 
in  the  quick  transition  from  the  nymphs  and  the 
allegorical  swans  to  the  minute  account  of  the 
London  water-front. 

In  1598  appeared  Barnfield's  Encomium  of  Lady 
Pecunia,  a  humorous  praise  of  money.1     The  slight- 
ness  of  the  subject  removes  the  lyric  from  serious 
1  Illustrations  of  Old  Eng.  Lit.,  J.  Payne  Collier,  1866. 


vi.]  OTHER  LYRISTS  197 

consideration,  but  the  technic  in  all  its  details  is 
beautiful.  The  punning  style  used  throughout  is 
well  illustrated  by  the  third  stanza :  — 

"  You,  you  alone  cau  make  my  muse  to  speake, 
Aucl  tell  a  golden  tale,  with  silver  tongue  ; 
You  only  can  my  pleasing  silence  break, 

And  add  some  music  to  a  merry  songue  ; 
But  amongst  all  the  five,  in  music's  art, 
I  worst  cau  brook  the  counter  tenor's  part." 

There  is  the  customary  compliment  to  the  Queen ; 
if  Pecunia  is  "  queen  of  harts,"  Eliza  is  queen  of 
diamonds.  In  the  second  edition  of  the  poem,  in 
1605,  this  passage  is  converted  into  a  praise  of  the 
new  king.  The  one  serious  note  in  the  poem  is  an 
echo  of  the  Eeformation ;  in  the  thirteenth  stanza 
sarcastic  reference  is  made  to  the  sale  of  pardons 
by  the  Pope. 

In  1599  William  Jaggard,  a  noted  pirate  pub- 
lisher, printed  a  volume  of  twenty  poems  under 
the  title,  Tlie  Passionate  Pilgrim,  by  W.  Shakespeare} 
Only  five  of  the  poems,  however,  were  by  the  great 
poet,  and  those  were  published  without  his  consent. 
He  was  "  much  offended  "  with  Jaggard,  and  prob- 
ably expressed  himself  to  some  purpose,  for  his 
name  was  removed  from  a  few  copies.2  The  book 
is  really  a  miscellany,  but  it  has  its  proper  place  in 
this  chapter  because  its  subject-matter  is  character- 
istic of  the  sonnet-period.  Shakspere's  contributions 
include  three  poems  from  Love's  Labour's  Lost  and 

1  Works,  Cambridge  Edition,  Wm.  Aldis  Wright,  ix.  p.  395. 

2  Sidney  Lee,  p.  182. 


198  THE   ELIZABETHAN   LYRIC  [chap. 

two  sonnets.  The  most  important  of  the  five  is  the 
sonnet  now  numbered  one  hundred  and  forty  four 
—  "Two  loves  I  have  of  comfort  and  despair." 
Barnfield  is  represented  by  two  selections,  of  which 
the  sonnet  on  Dowland  and  Spenser  was  long 
thought  to  be  by  Shakspere:  — 

"  If  music  and  sweet  poetry  agree, 
As  they  must  needs,  the  sister  and  the  brother, 
Then  must  the  love  be  great  'twixt  thee  and  me, 
Because  thou  lov'st  the  one  and  I  the  other. 
Dowland  to  thee  is  dear,  whose  heavenly  touch 
Upon  the  lute  doth  ravish  human  sense  ; 
Spenser  to  me,  whose  deep  conceit  is  such, 
As,  passing  all  conceit,  needs  no  defense,"  etc. 

Barnfield's  other  lyric,  "  As  it  fell  upon  a  day," 1 
is  a  charming  variation  of  an  old  song-convention. 
Instead  of  overhearing  a  lover  bemoaning  his  fate, 
the  poet  hearkens  to  the  nightingale,  who  teaches 
him  how  a  true  friend  may  be  told  from  a  false. 
The  theme  recalls  the  moral  poems  of  the  miscel- 
lanies. The  test  of  friendship  is  a  reverse  of 
fortune  :  — 

"  But  if  Fortune  once  do  frown, 
Then  farewell  his  great  renown  ; 
They  that  fawned  on  him  before, 
Use  his  company  no  more. 
He  that  is  thy  friend  indeed, 
He  will  help  thee  in  thy  need." 

Bartholomew  Griffin  is  represented  by  a  garbled 
version  of  a  sonnet  from  Fidessa,  on  the  subject  of 

1  Shakspere's  Works,  ix.  p.  412. 


vi.]  OTHER   LYRISTS  199 

Venus  and  Adonis.     This  theme  reappears  in  some 
of  the  anonymous  poems  of  the  volume. 

Undoubtedly  the  best  lyric  in  the  Passionate 
Pilgrim  is  Marlowe's  "  Come  live  with  me."  l  It  is 
a  perfect  example  of  Elizabethan  song.  It  has  its 
literary  sources  in  the  pastoral  period  soon  coming 
to  a  close,  and  its  distinction  is  that  it  expresses 
faithfully  a  sincere  mood  through  the  most  unreal 
images  of  this  unreal  convention.  Within  its  short 
compass  it  includes  all  the  furniture  of  the  Italian- 
ate  Elizabethan  idyl  —  mountains  and  valleys  in  a 
theatrical  "  set  piece,"  immovable  shepherds  feed- 
ing their  motionless  flocks  by  the  arrested  fall  of 
the  river.  The  poet  promises  this  landscape  to  his 
love,  and  gifts  —  a  bed  of  roses,  a  wreath  of  flowers, 
a  gown  clasped  with  amber  and  coral.  No  gift  so 
rich  had  that  earlier  shepherd  for  Amaryllis  — 
"Lo,  ten  apples  I  bring  thee,  plucked  from  that 
very  place  where  thou  didst  bid  me  pluck  them, 
and  others  to-morrow  I  will  bring  thee."2  Marlowe's 
conception  of  the  pastoral  is  as  remote  as  possible 
from  Theocritus's  realism.  But,  perhaps  because 
the  convention  is  so  frankly  accepted,  it  does  not 
detract  from  the  fundamental  sincerity  of  the  poem. 

1  Ibid.,  p.  411.  This  famous  lyric  comes  to  us  with  an 
interesting  history.  In  the  Passionate  Pilgrim  it  lacks  the 
fourth  and  sixth  stanzas,  and  is  anonymous.  It  appears  com- 
plete and  signed  "  C.  Marlowe"  in  England's  Helicon,  which 
also  contains  the  famous  reply  to  it  hy  Sir  Walter  Raleigh. 
The  second  edition  of  the  Complete  Angler  quotes  it  with  an 
additional  stanza. 

2  Theocritus,  Idyll  iii,  Lang,  p.  20. 


200  THE   ELIZABETHAN   LYRIC  [chap. 

None  of  Shakspere's  spring-songs,  in  spite  of  their 
English  realism,  are  fresher,  brighter,  or  happier  in 
mood.  In  one  respect  the  song  suggests  Herrick 
and  the  Greek  Anthology ;  it  achieves  a  beauty  of 
mere  expression  that  is  durable  —  aere  perennius; 
the  language  into  which  the  pastoral  mood  is 
crystallized  seems  proof  against  time's  changes  of 
thought  and  taste. 

Francis  Thynne's  Emblems  and  Epigrammes,  1600, 
contains,  among  a  mass  of  poor  writing,  one  inter- 
esting poem,  which  suggests  in  tone  later  minor 
poets  such  as  Marvell.  The  affection  of  a  recluse 
for  literature,  and  the  personal  appreciation  of  it,  is 
remarkable  for  so  early  a  poem.    It  is  called  Tlie  Ivy. 

"  Thow  Bacchus  plant,  which  alwaies  greene  dost  springe, 
Poets  reward,  and  glorie  of  their  penn, 
The  touchstone  of  wyne  which  to  the  sprite  doth  hringe 
A  quickening  force  to  rouse  the  will  of  menn, 
Why  dost  thow  clime  my  house  so  spreadingly, 
And  yield  thy  sacred  budds  so  frutefullie  ? 

In  vaine  thow  doest  ascend  these  rurall  tyles 
Which  profound  Virgill  never  yet  behelde, 
Nor  wanton  Ovid,  whose  rare  poem  compyles 
Strange  changed  shapes  which  abstruse  science  yeald, 
Nor  wittie  Flaccus  did  hange  his  harpe  here, 
Nor  doth  Tibullus  gold  in  this  appere. 

For  in  this  cottage  rurall  muse  doth  reste  ; 

Here  dwelleth  Cherill,  and  Topas  the  knighte  ; 

Pore  oten  ryme  is  onlie  here  exprest, 

Nor  helicon  verse  or  muse  of  rare  delight ; 

But  since  thou  hast  this  misticke  wall  adorned, 

Doe  flourish  longe,  all  though  my  verse  be  scorned."  1 

i  Early  Eng.  Text  Soc,  briv.  p.  82. 


vi.]  OTHER   LYRISTS  201 

In  1602  appeared  Thomas  Campion's  Observations 
in  the  Art  of  English  Poesy,1  the  famous  pamphlet  in 
which  this  graceful  Elizabethan  rimer  advocated  a 
return  to  classical  quantitative  verse.  He  illus- 
trated his  proposed  rhythms  with  original  experi- 
ments, which  in  all  but  one  case  are  no  less 
unhappy  than  most  quantitative  poems  in  English. 
The  one  exception,  however,  illustrating  a  trochaic 
strophe,  deserves  to  be  quoted  here  as  an  example, 
not  only  of  graceful  melody,  but  of  perfect  lyrical 
form.  The  motive  —  Laura's  beauty  —  is  intro- 
duced in  the  first  words,  developed  through  an 
Elizabethan  "  conceit "  of  human  beauty  in  general, 
and  closed  with  a  philosophic  contemplation  of 
perfect  beauty  in  the  abstract :  — 

"  Rose-cheeked  Laura,  come  ; 
Sing  thou  smoothly  with  thy  beauty's 
Silent  music,  either  other 

Sweetly  gracing. 

Lovely  forms  do  flow 
From  concent  divinely  framed  ; 
Heaven  is  music,  and  thy  beauty's 
Birth  is  heavenly. 

These  dull  notes  we  sing 

Discords  need  for  helps  to  grace  them, 

Only  beauty  purely  loving 

Knows  no  discord, 

But  still  moves  delight, 
Like  clear  springs  renewed  by  flowing, 
Ever  perfect,  ever  in  them- 
selves eternal."  2 

i  Works,  A.  H.  Bullen.  2  j^.,  p.  254. 


202  THE   ELIZABETHAN   LYRIC  [chap. 

About  the  year  lf>05  appeared  Drayton's  Poemes 

Lyrick  and  Pastorall,1  containing  the  splendid  ode 

on  the  battle  of  Agincourt.      This  poem,  like  the 

Battle  of  Brunanburh,  and   like  some   of   Minot's 

songs,  is   remarkable   for   its  choric  quality;    the 

voice   of  the   whole   people   is    heard    in    it.      In 

modern  English  literature  it  has  hardly  a  parallel 

as  a  national  song,  with  the  possible  exception  of 

some  of  Campbell's  odes,  and  Tennyson's   Charge 

of  the  Light  Brigade.      Tennyson  may  have  been 

influenced    by   Drayton.      Their   two   battle-songs 

have  almost  the  same  narrative  method,  almost  the 

same  rhythm,  and  exactly  the  same  cadence  at  the 

end :  — 

"  On  happy  Crispin  day 
Fought  was  this  noble  fray, 
Which  fame  did  not  delay 

To  England  to  carry  ; 
O  when  shall  Englishmen, 
With  such  acts  fill  a  pen  ? 
Or  England  breed  again 

Such  a  King  Harry  ?  " 

To  the  year  1612  belongs  George  Chapman's 
Hymn  to  Hymen,  a  wedding-song  in  honor  of  the 
Princess  Elizabeth.  The  poem  was  published  along 
with  Nat.  Field's  A  Woman  is  a  Weathercock.2  Like 
all  of  Chapman's  lyrics,  it  is  rather  conventional. 
It  has  no  sense  of  such  lyric  form  as  we  have  found 
in   Spenser's  Epithalamhim,   nor   has   it   any  real 

1  The  Spenser  Society  Publications,  new  series,  iv.  1891,  p.  32. 

2  Chapman's  Works,  Chatto  &  Windus,  1875,  p.  176. 


vi.]  OTHER   LYRISTS  203 

motive  other  than  the  desire  to  compliment  the 
princess.  It  praises  in  formal  terms  the  sacred 
institution  of  marriage,  and  then  adds  good  wishes 
for  the  prosperity  of  the  bridal  couple.  The  same 
general  criticism  applies  to  Chapman's  Epicedium, 
of  the  same  year,1  —  a  funeral-song  on  the  death  of 
Prince  Henry.  This  rather  elaborate  lyric  is  over- 
weighted by  allegory  and  narrative ;  there  is  no 
direct  expression  of  grief  at  all.  It  must  always 
remain  a  puzzle  that  Chapman,  writing  so  late,  and 
doubtless  acquainted  with  good  models,  both  classi- 
cal and  contemporary,  should  in  these  lyrics,  or  in 
his  other  work,  adopt  the  worn-out  literary  methods 
of  the  preceding  century.  There  is  no  more  lyrical 
ability  shown  in  this  funeral-song  than  in  the  ordi- 
nary epitaphs  of  the  miscellanies.2 

In  1613  appeared  the  first  part  of  William 
Browne's  Britannia's  Pastorals.3  This  is  an  imita- 
tion of  the  Shepheards  Calender,  a  series  of  eclogues 
containing  occasional  lyrics.  With  all  allowance 
for  Browne's  inferior  gifts,  a  comparison  of  this 

i  Ibid.,  p.  163. 

2  The  deaths  of  Sir  Philip  Sidney,  Queen  Elizabeth,  and 
Prince  Henry  called  forth  a  profusion  of  funeral  poems.  The 
quality  of  these  effusions  was  very  poor  indeed.  Mr.  Churton 
Collins,  in  his  edition  of  Cyril  Tourneur's  Plays  and  Poems 
(p.  xxviii) ,  mentions  a  number  of  elegies  inspired  by  Prince 
Henry's  death.  The  author  has  been  furnished  with  a  list  of 
some  twenty  more,  and  if  the  poems  on  Sidney  and  Elizabeth 
were  added,  the  total  would  be  most  formidable.  But  the 
entire  mass  contains  no  lyric  of  merit,  and  there  is  no  excuse 
here  for  their  further  mention. 

8  Poems,  Gordon  Goodwin,  The  Muses  Library,  1894. 


204  THE    ELIZABETHAN   LYRIC  [chap. 

book  with  its  Spenserian  model,  or  with  Drayton's 
Shepheards  Garland,  will  show  that  the  strict  pas- 
toral convention  is  already  out  of  date.  The  mood 
seems  antiquated.  The  lyrics  express  old  themes; 
they  have  little  emotional  force,  and  the  skill  shown 
in  their  teclmic  is  small.  In  the  first  eclogue  there 
is  a  song  on  the  uncertainty  of  life.  It  represents 
that  familiar  moral  strain,  characteristic  of  Eenas- 
cence  poetry  and  peculiarly  dear  to  the  English 
temperament,  which  we  have  already  noticed  in  the 
miscellanies :  — 

"  What's  that,  compact  of  earth,  infused  with  air ; 
A  certain  made  full  with  uncertainties  ; 
Swayed  by  the  motion  of  each  several  sphere  ; 
Who's  fed  with  nought  but  infelicities  ;  "  etc.1 

The  third  eclogue  has  a  lyric  in  which  one  shepherd 
questions  another,  who  is  in  love.  This  old  dia- 
logue theme  dates  back  to  the  beginning  of  pastoral 
verse ;  it  is  the  motive  of  the  tenth  idyl  of  Theocri- 
tus. In  Browne's  version  the  situation  is  handled 
rather  listlessly,  as  if  it  were  too  familiar  to  exer- 
cise spontaneous  charm :  — 

"A.  Fie,  Shepherd's  swain,  why  sit'st  thou  all  alone, 

Whilst  other  lads  are  sporting  on  the  leys? 

B.   Joy  may  have  company,  but  grief  hath  none  ; 

Where  pleasures  never  came,  sports  cannot  please,"  etc.2 

The  fifth  eclogue  has  a  dirge  for  Prince  Henry. 
The  poem  is  in  no  formal  sense  an  elegy ;  it  lacks 
the  Greek  development  of  theme,  and  it  expresses 

i  Poems,  i.  p.  53.  2  Ibid.,  i.  p.  90. 


vi.]  OTHER   LYRISTS  205 

few  of  the  typical  elegiac  motives.  It  is  conven- 
tionally respectful  in  its  attitude  of  sorrow,  and 
when  it  becomes  imaginative,  the  image  is  usually 
fantastic,  as  in  the  statement  that  "  Hope  lay  bed- 
rid, and  all  pleasures  dying."  1 

Browne's  other  writings  that  come  within  the 
date  selected  as  the  limit  of  this  study,  may  as  well 
be  considered  here.  In  1614  he  published  his 
Shepherd's  Pipe,  a  collection  of  eclogues  similar  to 
his  better  known  pastorals.  The  lyrics  contained 
in  it  are  of  very  mediocre  quality.  Only  one,  an 
elegy  on  the  poet's  friend,  Thomas  Manwood,  needs 
passing  notice.  The  elegiac  consolation  is  reli- 
gious ;  the  friend  has  outstripped  his  comrades  and 
reached  the  harbor  of  bliss  early,  because  he  was 
best  fitted  for  the  voyage  of  life.2 

In  1616  the  second  part  of  Britannia's  Pastorals 
was  published.  It  contains  but  one  lyric  of  any 
importance.  In  the  second  eclogue  is  a  graceful 
rendering  of  the  myth  of  Adonis.  The  theme 
takes  us  back  to  the  poets  of  the  sixteenth  century, 
but  the  lightness  of  execution  is  more  suggestive 
of  the  new  song-writers,  like  Campion :  — 

"Venus  by  Adonis'  side 
Crying  kissed  and  kissing  cried, 
Wrung  her  hands  and  tore  her  hair 
For  Adonis  dying  there,"  etc.3 

In  the  third  eclogue  of  the  first  part  of  the  pas- 
torals is  a  song  on  the  carpe  diem  theme,  of  that 

i  BM.,  i.  p.  142.  2  Ibid.,  ii.  p.  139.  3  Ibid.,  i.  p.  232. 


206  THE    ELIZABETHAN   LYRIC        [chap.  vi. 

thoughtful  Renascence  mood  that  Spenser  intro- 
duced into  his  Bower  of  Bliss.  It  is  considered  last 
because  it  illustrates  the  most  typical  transition  of 
the  period.  From  Spenser's  song  to  the  even  more 
famous  "  Gather  ye  roses,"  of  Herrick,  the  theme 
undergoes  a  significant  change  of  tone.  In  Tasso 
and  in  Spenser,  his  imitator  in  this  song,  the  mood 
is  contemplative  and  sad;  the  poet  is  thinking  of 
the  shortness  of  life,  of  the  roses  that  have  per- 
ished, rather  than  of  the  present  flowers  that  he 
bids  gather ;  in  Spenser's  words  :  — 

"  So  passeth,  in  the  passing  of  a  day, 
Of  mortall  life,  the  leafe,  the  bud,  the  flowre ; 
Ne  more  doth  florish  after  first  decay, 
That  earst  was  sought  to  deck  both  bed  and  bowre 
Of  many  a  lady,  and  many  a  Paramoure. 
Gather  therefore  the  Rose,"  etc.1 

In  Herrick's  familiar  song  this  deep  mood  has 
disappeared.  The  pathos  of  life  is  not  felt,  and 
the  theme  passes  out  of  its  brooding  into  a 
light-hearted  summons  to  enjoy  the  passing  hour. 
Browne's  version  stands  in  between,  with  some- 
thing of  the  early  thoughtfulness,  and  yet  with  the 
lighter  manner  that  was  becoming  fashionable :  — 

"  Gentle  nymphs,  be  not  refusing, 
Love's  neglect  is  time's  abusing, 

They  and  beauty  are  but  lent  you. 
Take  the  one  and  keep  the  other  ; 
Love  keeps  fresh  what  age  doth  smother  ; 

Beauty  gone  you  will  repent  you."  2 

1  Spenser's  Works,  p.  153.  2  Browne's  Poems,  i.  p.  98. 


CHAPTER  VII 

THE   SONG-BOOKS 

The  last  and  most  characteristic  phase  of  lyric 
composition  in  the  Elizabethan  period  was  the 
large  body  of  songs  for  music,  published  under  the 
titles  of  madrigals  and  airs.  The  term  "Eliza- 
bethan/' applied  to  lyrics,  suggests  to  most  people 
the  qualities  of  these  songs  —  shortness,  and  per- 
haps, as  a  consequence,  emotional  instead  of  narra- 
tive treatment,  and  great  verbal  melody.  This 
"singing"  quality  has  often  been  attributed  to 
the  musical  atmosphere  in  which  the  songs  were 
composed ;  the  historians  of  literature  iisually  state 
that  the  original  close  relation  between  the  tunes 
and  the  words  is  the  cause  of  the  musical  sugges- 
tion which  the  words  undoubtedly  possess.  This 
explanation  is  founded  on  a  misunderstanding  of 
the  condition  of  Elizabethan  music,  which  had  little 
of  those  qualities  of  rhythm  and  lightness  that 
the  critics  try  to  explain.  It  is  true,  however, 
that  this  large  number  of  songs  for  music  was 
called  out  by  a  musical  fashion.  Though  one  of 
the  slowest  arts  to  develop,  music  had  its  share 
of  the  impulse  of  the  Renascence  and  the  Reforma- 
207 


MADRIGAL, 


From  John  Morley's  Madrigals  to  Four  Voices,  1594. 
Reprinted  in  full  in  Hawkins's  History  0/ Music,  iii.  p.  350. 

a-  f=- 


Be  -  sides    a  foun  -   taine, 


b==s^ 


\ 


t= 


be- sides    a     foun  -  taine  of 


i 


sides     a  foun   -   taine, 


be-  sides    a  foun     - 


Be    -   sides    a   foun   -    taine,  be- sides 

Be    -    sides     a  foun     -     taine, 


m&i 


-tt= 


taine  of      sweet brier  and  ro-ses,    heard  I    two  lov-ers 


=t=: 


-I       V. 


foun  -   taine  of    sweet  brier  and    ro     -     ses,  heard   I     two 

heard    I     two  lovers 


E 


*fr 


:W-t= 


rg=r^2 


~Z—  i*-  :s^f=: 


heard   I       two  lov  -  ers    talk in        sweet  and  wan-ton        glo 


±=Z 


Z»=3*r 


■■m^-P-Pr- 


L| ^_, 

*~"      lov- ing  talk   in  sweet  and  wan 


lov 
talk 


talk 
sweet 


in      sweet  and   wan     -      -      ton  glo 
and       wan     -     ton  glo 


;     r  f    — H5 


E  E- 


=g 


chap,  vii.]  THE   SONG-BOOKS  209 

tion,  and  in  England  its  flowering  happened  to 
coincide  with  a  period  of  great  literary  activity. 
The  people  wished  to  sing  the  new  madrigal  music 
from  Italy ;  the  majority  of  them,  however,  were 
not  entirely  at  home  with  the  Italian  words;  it 
was  but  natural  that  ready  lyrists  should  fit  Eng- 
lish words  to  the  new  music.  This  was  exactly 
the  origin  of  the  first  madrigal  book,  Musica  Trans- 
alpina,  1588,  by  Nicholas  Younge.  It  contained 
fifty-seven  Italian  madrigals  with  English  para- 
phrases. If  any  further  proof  were  needed  that 
the  development  of  music  and  of  poetry  is  not 
identical,  it  might  be  noted  that  in  Italy,  where 
the  madrigal  music  was  first  developed,  its  use 
produced  no  such  lyrics  as  in  England. 

TVe  have  already  used  the  term  "madrigal."  It 
has  frequently  led  literary  critics  astray,  because 
of  its  use  in  music  as  well  as  in  literature.  It  is 
most  familiar  as  the  name  of  a  strict  Italian  stanza- 
form,  which  will  be  considered  later.  To  the  Eliza- 
bethans, however,  the  madrigal  was  a  musical  form, 
a  particular  kind  of  part-song.  When  the  critic, 
therefore,  looking  over  a  short,  irregular  lyric 
labelled  '•'  madrigal,"  says  that  the  term  is  loosely 
applied,  he  does  not  consider  that  the  music  to 
which  that  lyric  was  set  was  a  strict  madrigal. 

The  history  of  this  musical  form,  which  domi- 
nates the  first  part  of  the  song-book  period,  is 
bound  up  with  the  Renascence  and  with  the  Refor- 
mation.     The  music  of   culture  was  the  music  of 


210  THE   ELIZABETHAN  LYRIC  [chap. 

the  church ;  the  secularization  that  accompanied 
these  adventurous  times,  was  in  this  art  at  first 
satisfied  with  setting  the  strict  church  music  to 
secular  words.  The  result  of  this  first  step  out 
of  the  religious  province  was  the  madrigal.  The 
music  was  of  the  kind  illustrated  to  most  people 
by  the  works  of  Palestrina.  It  was  polyphonic ; 
that  is,  instead  of  having  one  melody,  harmonized 
by  other  voice-parts,  all  the  parts  were  of  equal 
importance,  and,  following  the  rules  of  counter- 
point and  fugue-writing,  took  up  the  theme  in  turn. 
The  effect  of  such  music  is  very  smooth  and  sus- 
tained, but  it  lacks  the  regular  shocks  of  rkythin 
and  the  melodic  definiteness  to  which  a  modern 
ear  is  accustomed.  The  enjoyment  of  it  is  intel- 
lectual rather  than  emotional.  It  was  to  such 
music  that  the  dainty  and  joyous  lyrics  of  the 
first  song-books  were  set.  In  the  words  of  the 
latest  musical  historian :  "  Genuine  madrigals  were 
written  on  the  same  polyphonic  principles  as  church 
music,  and  many  of  them  were  as  serious  in  style.  A 
self-respecting  composer  would  hardly  venture  fur- 
ther in  the  direction  of  secular  style  than  a  little 
relaxation  of  the  rigid  observance  of  the  rides  of 
the  modes  and  the  high  grammatical  orthodoxies, 
and  a  little  gaiety  and  definiteness  in  melodious 
and  lively  passages.  No  doubt  madrigals  became 
contaminated  before  the  end  of  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury, for  secularity  was  in  the  air.  But  the  system 
upon  which  they  were  based,  and  the  subtleties  of 


vii.]  THE   SONG-BOOKS  211 

art  which  were  the  pride  of  their  composers,  were 
not  capable  of  being  applied  in  real,  undisguised 
secular  music." 1 

The  madrigal  was  written  for  at  least  two 
voices,  usually  for  four  or  five.  It  never  contained 
more  than  one  musical  movement,  and  therefore 
had  shortness  and  unity  of  form.  These  last 
qualities  had  great  influence  upon  the  lyric ;  for 
in  order  to  set  words  to  such  music,  the  English 
poet  had  to  achieve  a  terseness  and  brevity  of 
expression  which  was  in  direct  contrast  with  the 
diffuse  pastoral  school.  The  Italian  musicians  had 
ready  to  their  hand  two  literary  forms  admirably 
adapted  to  their  purpose  —  the  literary  madrigal 
and  the  rispetto.  The  madrigal  was  a  very  short 
idyl,  a  picture  poem,  from  six  to  ten  lines  long. 
In  its  shortest  form  it  consisted  of  two  triplets; 
to  these  might  be  added  one  or  two  couplets.  A 
good  illustration  may  be  taken  from  Musica  Trans- 
alpina,  published  in  1597 :  — 

"  Nel  piu  fiorit'  Aprile, 

All  nor  che  i  vaghi  augelli, 
Di  sopra  gl'  arboscelli : 
Cantano  in  vario  suoii  dolce  e  gentile. 
A  gara  ancor  con  lor  cantava  Clori, 
Di  lei  e  del  suo  Elpin  i  dolci  amori."  2 

In  the  song-book  the  English  rendering  shows  a 

1  The  Oxford  History  of  Music,  iii  ;  the  Music  of  the  Seven- 
teenth Century,  C.  Hubert  H.  Parry,  1902,  p.  6. 

2  Musa  Maclrigalesca,  Thomas  Oliphant,  London,  1837, 
p.  56. 


212  THE   ELIZABETHAN   LYRIC  [chap. 

faithful  imitation  of  every  syllable,  in  order  not  to 

disturb  the  phrases  of  the  music :  — 

"In  flower  of  April  springing, 

When  pleasant  birds  to  sport  them, 
Among  the  woods  consort  them  ; 
Warbling  with  cheerful  notes  and  sweetly  singing, 
For  joy  Clora  the  fair  her  song  was  chaunting, 
Of  her,  and  her  Elpine,  the  sweet  loves  vaunting."  1 

The  rispetto  was  a  literary  development  of  a  pop- 
ular form.2  Its  subject  was  some  phase  of  love. 
In  form  it  was  less  variable  than  the  madrigal, 
having  six  lines  on  two  alternate  rimes,  followed 
by  a  final  couplet.  A  typical  example  is  from 
Musica  Transalpine^  Book  I.,  1588  :  — 

"  Chi  salira  per  me,  Madonn'  in  Cielo, 

A  riportarm'  il  mio  perdut'  ingegno  ? 
Che  poi  ch'  usci  di  bei  vostr'  occh'  il  telo, 

Ch'  il  cor  mi  fisse  ognor  perdendo  vegno ; 
Ne  di  tanta  jattura  mi  querelo 

Pur  che  non  cresca,  ma  stia  a  questra  segno, 
Ch'  io  dubito  se  piu  se  va  scemando, 
Che  stolto  me  n'andro  pe  '1  mond'  errando."3 

The  translation  in  the  song-book  is  more  faith- 
ful, but  hardly  more  felicitous,  than  the  paraphrase 
of  the  madrigal :  — 

"  Who  will  ascend  to  Heav'n  and  there  obtain  me 
My  wits  forlorn  and  silly  sense  decayed  ? 
For  since  I  took  my  wound  that  sore  did  pain  me 
From  your  fair  eyes,  my  sp'rits  are  all  dismayed, 

1  Musa  Madrigalesca,  p.  56. 

2  Translations  of  a  number  of  rispetti  may  be  found  in  Popu- 
lar Songs  of  Tuscany,  an  essay  by  J.  A.  Symonds,  in  his 
Sketches  and  Studies  in  Southern  Europe,  1880,  i.  p.  228. 

3  Musa  Madrigalesca,  p.  43. 


vii.]  THE   SONG-BOOKS  213 

Nor  of  so  great  a  loss  do  I  complain  me, 
If  it  increase  not  but  in  bounds  be  stayed  ; 
Yet  if  I  still  grow  worse,  I  shall  be  lotted 
To  wander  thro'  the  world,  fond  and  assotted."  1 

With  such  forms  as  these  forced  upon  them  as 
models  by  the  demands  of  the  music,  it  is  but 
natural  that  the  English  poets  should  have  pro- 
duced a  new  kind  of  lyric.  This  fresh  fashion  of 
song  can  best  be  appreciated  by  a  chronological 
survey  of  the  song-books  themselves. 

Among  the  first  was  William  Byrd's  Psalmes, 
Sonnets  and  Songs  of  Sadness  and  Pietie,  1588. 2 
Byrd  was  a  well-known  church  musician  and 
brought  to  the  writing  of  these  madrigals  not  only 
the  methods  of  church  music,  but  a  fondness  for 
serious  and  moral  lyrics.  In  the  choice  of  words 
for  his  songs  he  showed  excellent  literary  taste; 
many  of  them  reappeared  as  poems  in  England's 
Helicon.  The  madrigals,  which  were  thirty-five  in 
number,  and  written  for  five  voices,  had  the  charac- 
teristic shortness  of  their  form.  Some  of  the  poems 
fitted  to  them,  however,  are  rather  long.  Byrd 
makes  the  best  of  the  matter  by  using  half  the 
poem  for  one  madrigal  and  half  for  another.  A 
poem  so  treated  is  Sir  Edward  Dyer's  "My  mind 
to  me  a  kingdom  is." 3  This  lyric,  together  with  the 
praise  of  a  quiet  life  already  noticed  in  England's 
Helicon,  "What  pleasures  have  great  princes,"4  is 

i  Ibid.,  p.  42.  3  md^  p.  6.   • 

2  Ibid.,  p.  3.  *  Ibid.,  p.  8. 


214  THE   ELIZABETHAN  LYRIC  [chap. 

typical  of  the  subject-matter  which  Byrd  chose 
for  his  songs.  His  literary  ideals  were  always 
those  of  the  miscellanies;  his  last  publication  in 
1611  shows  little  influence  of  the  more  cheerful 
kind  of  lyric  then  fashionable.  In  one  song, 
"  Farewell,  false  love !  the  oracle  of  lies ! " l  he 
uses  the  work  of  Thomas  Deloney,  the  most  cele- 
brated popular  street-ballad  writer  of  the  period. 
But  most  curious  of  all,  as  showing  the  utter 
independence  of  meter  and  musical  rhythm  in 
these  madrigals,  is  the  setting  of  eight  lines  of 
Ovid's  epistle  from  Penelope  to  Ulysses,  translated 
with  terrible  literalness  into  English  hexameters. 

In  the  same  year  that  Byrd  published  this  book 
of  madrigals,  set  to  themes  already  somewhat  old- 
fashioned,  Nicholas  Younge  published  the  first 
part  of  his  Musica  Transalpine!,.2  This  was  a 
collection  of  fifty-seven  popular  Italian  madrigals, 
composed  for  four,  five,  or  six  voices,  and  set  to 
English  paraphrases  of  the  original  words.  In  the 
dedicatory  epistle,  Younge  explains  that  many  of 
his  friends  who  delighted  in  the  new  Italian  music 
were  nevertheless  hindered  in  its  use  by  the  Italian 
poems  to  which  they  were  set.  One  ingenious 
musician,  however,  paraphrased  some  of  the  songs 
with  such  symmetry  that  the  English  version 
answered  syllable  for  syllable  to  the  original ;  so 
that  the  performance  of  the  music  —  evidently  the 
translator's  only  concern — was  not  disturbed. 
1  3fusa  Madrigalesca,  p.  12.  2  Ibid.,  p.  38. 


vii.]  THE   SONG-BOOKS  215 

Younge  saw  the  practical  value  of  such  literary- 
tinkering,  and  published  this  first  collection.  The 
name  of  the  translator  or  paraphraser  has  not  been 
discovered. 

The  literary  quality  of  these  songs  is  wretched. 
In  the  attempt  to  preserve  the  original  meter,  and 
especially  the  Italian  feminine  rhymes,  the  trans- 
lator turned  out  one  monstrosity  after  another. 
One  song  opens  in  the  original  with  the  verses  :  — 

"  Io  morird  d'  amore  ; 
S'  al  mio  scampo  non  vien  sdegno  e  furore." 

This  movement  reappears  in  English :  — 

"  I  will  go  die  of  pure  love  ; 
Except  rage  and  disdain  come  to  recure  love  ;  "  1 

The  value  of  the  book,  however,  is  that  it  familiar- 
ized musicians  and  poets  alike  with  the  advantages 
of  the  short  Italian  songs  for  this  kind  of  music. 
The  literary  value  of  the  Italian  originals  was  but 
slight,  and  the  English  lyrists  needed  but  acquaint- 
ance with  the  model  in  order  to  surpass  it. 

In  1589  Byrd  published  his  second  book,  Songs 
of  Sundry  Natures.2  This  was  a  collection  of  forty- 
seven  madrigals,  for  three,  four,  five,  or  six  parts. 
In  his  address  to  the  reader,  the  composer  bears 
witness  to  the  sudden  popularity  of  madrigal 
music :  "  Finding  that  my  last  impression  of 
Musicke  (most  gentle  reader)  through  thy  courtesie 
and  favour,  hath  had  good  passage  and  utterance ; 

i  Ibid.,  p.  46.  2  ibia.,  p.  20. 


216  THE   ELIZABETHAN   LYRIC  [chap. 

and  that  since  the  publishing  thereof,  the  exer- 
cise and  love  of  that  art  hath  exceedingly  increased ; 
I  have  been  encouraged  thereby,"  etc.1 

The  lyrics  in  this  book  are  of  the  same  general 
moral  tendency  as  in  Byrd's  first  publication.  The 
number  of  love-songs,  however,  is  on  the  increase. 
Perhaps  the  change  is  due  to  the  influence  of  such 
subjects  in  Musica  Transalpina,  of  the  year  before. 
Byrd  is  still  embarrassed  by  the  length  of  his 
poems.  In  one  case  he  uses  but  the  first  quatrain 
of  a  sonnet,2  of  which  the  remainder  was  afterward 
set  by  Thomas  Bateson.  The  one  lyric  in  the 
volume  that  has  taken  a  high  place  among  the 
songs  of  this  period  is  the  pastoral  dialogue  be- 
tween a  shepherd  and  his  friend  :  — 

"  A.   Who  made  thee,  Hob,  forsake  the  plough 
And  fall  in  love  ? 
B.    Sweet  beauty,  which  hath  power  to  bow 
The  Gods  above,  etc."3 

In  1590  Thomas  Watson,  the  author  of  the  Heka- 
tompathia,  published  a  volume  of  Italian  madrigals 
with  English  translations.  The  same  fidelity  to  the 
music  rather  than  to  the  words,  which  has  been 
noticed  in  Musica  Transalpina,  is  here  announced 
in  the  title,  Italian  Madrigals  Englished,  not  to  the 
sense  of  the  original  ditty,  but  after  the  affection  of  the 
note.4  This  was  a  small  collection  of  only  twenty- 
eight  madrigals.     Besides  the  paraphrases  from  the 

1  Musa  Madrigalesca,  p.  21.  3  Ibid.,  p.  29. 

»2&id.,p.  24.  *  Ibid.,  p.  58. 


vii.]  THE   SONG-BOOKS  217 

Italian,  it  contained  several  adaptations  of  English 
words  to  the  music.  The  paraphrases  are  very 
poor ;  their  only  interest  is  in  the  short  madrigal 
form  which  they  are  forced  by  the  music  to  adopt. 
The  original  English  adaptations  are  a  little  better, 
but  they  are  strangely  inferior  in  technic  to  Wat- 
son's sonnets.  Perhaps  the  demands  of  the  music 
hampered  him.  The  only  interest  of  these  original 
pieces  is  in  their  occasional  reference  to  contempo- 
rary events,  as  in  the  verse  on  the  death  of  Sir 
Francis  Walsingham,  Sidney's  father-in-law :  — 

"  The  Fates,  alas  !  too  cruel, 
Have  slain  before  his  day  Diana's  chiefest  jewel. 
But  worthy  Meliboeus  in  a  moment, 
With  Astrophel  is  placed  above  the  firmament. 
Oh !  they  both  live  in  pleasure 
Where  joys  exceed  all  measure."  * 

In  1593  appeared  Thomas  Morley's  Canzonets,  or 
Little  Short  Songs  to  Three  Voices.  This  is  a  small 
collection  of  twenty  madrigals.  Morley  was  a  pupil 
of  Byrd,  and  enjoyed  a  wide  reputation  as  a  schol- 
arly musician.  With  his  own  profession  he  is  best 
known  for  a  treatise  on  music.  The  lyrics  in  his 
first  song-book  are  generally  short,  of  the  madrigal 
type.  They  are  very  interesting  as  illustrating  two 
directions  in  which  the  literary  madrigal  was  devel- 
oped by  the  English  poets.  On  the  one  hand  it 
lent  itself  to  idyllic  treatment ;  it  tended  to  express 
a  single  exquisite  picture,  finished   like  a  cameo, 

i  ibid.,  p.  62. 


218  THE   ELIZABETHAN   LYRIC  [chap. 

whose  subject,  originally  a  pastoral  incident,  in 
time  was  taken  from  any  region  of  life.  In  Mor- 
ley's  book  the  transition  to  this  form  is  well  illus- 
trated by  the  madrigal :  — 

"  See,  see,  mine  own  sweet  Jewell, 
What  I  have  for  my  darling  ; 
A  robin  redbreast  and  a  starling  ; 
Both  these  I  give  in  hope  to  move  thee  ! 
And  yet  thou  say  est,  I  do  not  love  thee  !  "  1 

The  other  tendency  of  the  madrigal  was  toward 
epigram.  Perhaps  because  of  Wyatt's  example  in 
TotteVs  Miscellany,  short  lyrics  in  the  Elizabethan 
period  were  often  touched  with  the  epigrammatic 
quality.  The  madrigal,  ending  like  the  English 
sonnet,  in  a  couplet,  offered  every  temptation  to 
this  intellectual  mannerism.  An  example  from 
Morley  shows  this  tendency  in  its  beginning :  — 

"  Do  you  not  know  how  Love  first  lost  his  seeing  ; 

Because  with  me  once  gazing 
On  those  fair  eyes,  where  all  powers  have  their  being  ; 

She  with  her  beauty  blazing, 
Which  death  might  have  revived, 
Him  of  his  sight,  me  of  my  heart  deprived."  2 

In  1594  Morley  published  his  second  book,  Mad- 
rigals to  Four  Voices.  This  collection,  also,  contained 
twenty  madrigals.  The  epigrammatic  development 
of  the  form  is  illustrated  by  several  examples,  but 
the  book  as  a  whole  is  interesting  for  two  other 
kinds  of  song.      The  first  is  an  imitation  of  the  old 

1  Musa  Madrigalesca,  p.  65.  2  Ibid.,  p.  68. 


vii.]  THE   SONG-BOOKS  219 

French  romances,  short  pastorals  enclosing  a  lyric. 
A  fair  example  would  be :  — 

"  In  dew  of  roses  steeping 

Her  lovely  cheeks,  Lycoris  sat  a  weeping. 

Ah  Doris  false  !  thou  hast  my  heart  bereft  me, 

And  now  unkind  hast  left  me. 

Hear  me,  alas !  cannot  my  beauty  move  thee  ? 

Pity  me  then,  because  I  love  thee.       * 

Ah  me!  thou  scorn'st,  the  more  I  pray  thee; 

And  this  thou  doest  all  to  slay  me ; 

Kill  me  then,  cruel,  kill  and  vaunt  thee, 

But  my  dreary  ghost  shall  haunt  thee."  1 

Several  lyrics  of  this  class  in  England's  Helicon 
are  quoted  from  Motley's  book.  It  is  fairly  plain 
that  the  pastoral  element  in  the  illustration  is  de- 
rived from  the  decorative,  elaborate  conventions 
of  romances  like  the  Arcadia.  The  very  name  of 
the  shepherdess  becomes  characteristic  of  these 
highly  conventional  idyls,  as  it  already  was  of  the 
prose  pastoral. 

The  other  class  of  lyrics  in  this  volume  that 
have  the  interest  of  novelty  are  the  descriptions  of 
dances.  They  are  not  properly  lyrics,  either  in 
quality  or  in  form  ;  their  purpose  is  to  portray  a 
dancing  scene.  Some  examples  are  purely  conven- 
tional—  pastoral  backgrounds  with  shepherds  and 
shepherdesses  treading  graceful  measures.  But 
there  are  also  realistic  pictures,  as  in  the  curious 
description  of  the  Morris  dance :  — 

i  Ibid.,  p.  74. 


220  THE   ELIZABETHAN  LYRIC  [chap. 

"  Ho  1  who  comes  there  with  bagpiping  and  drumming? 
O,  'tis,  I  see,  the  Morris  dance  a  coming. 

Soft,  not  away  so  fast ;  dost  see  they  melt  them  ; 
Out  there,  stand  out ;  you  come  too  far  (I  say)  in, 
And  give  the  hobby-horse  more  room  to  play  in."  1 

This  song  of  the  dance  brings  us  naturally  to 
Morley's  third  book,  published  in  1595,  Ballets  to 
Five  Voices.  The  twenty-one  madrigals  here  col- 
lected have  Italian  words  with  English  translations 
and  paraphrases.  Almost  all  have  a  dance  refrain, 
"  Fa  la,  la,"  and  their  themes  deal  largely  with  the 
season  of  spring  and  the  joy  of  life.  Many  of 
them,  such  as  the  familiar, — 

' '  Now  is  the  month  of  Maying, 
When  merry  lads  are  playing,"  2 

have  a  far  higher  literary  value  than  the  lyrics  of 

the  preceding   books.     The  best  poem  is   Lodge's 

graceful  song,  noticed  before :  — 

"  My  bonny  lass,  thine  eye 
So  sly, 
Hath  made  me  sorrow  so."  3 

Most  of  these  dance-songs,  however,  have  a  narra- 
tive introduction ;  no  matter  how  short  they  are, 
they  incline  to  be  idyls  with  an  inserted  lyric. 
They  have  the  intaglio  quality  of  the  idyllic  madri- 
gal, a  reminder  of  the  clear  beauty  found  in  the 
poems  of  the  Greek  Anthology.  A  good  example 
is  the  song :  — 

1  Musa  Madrigalesca,  p.  79.  2  Ibid.,  p.  86. 

3  English  Madrigals,  F.  A.  Cox,  1899,  p.  98. 


vn.]  THE  SONG-BOOKS  221 

"  Singing  alone  sat  my  sweet  Amaryllis, 
The  satyrs  danced  all  with  joy  surprised  ; 
Was  never  yet  such  dainty  sport  devised. 

Fa  la,  la. 

Come,  love,  again,  sang  she,  to  thy  beloved ; 
Alas  !  what  fear'st  thou  ?     Will  I  not  persever ? 
Yes,  thou  art  mine,  and  I  am  thine  forever. 

Fa  la,  la."1 

Morley's  Canzonets  to  Two  Voices,  published  1595, 
contains  but  twelve  songs,  and  they  are  too 
poor  in  quality  to  deserve  comment.  The  words 
are  paraphrases  from  the  Italian,  and  Oliphant 
accused  Morley  of  plagiarizing  the  music.2  His 
Canzonets,  or  Little  Short  Aers,  two  years  later,  are 
much  better.  The  lyrics  consist  of  epigrammatic 
madrigals  and  of  ornate  love-pastorals.  In  one 
case  the  humorous  epigram  appears ;  the  illustra- 
tion has  no  literary  value,  but  it  marks  a  new  and 
important  treatment  of  the  madrigal :  — 

"  Love's  folk  in  green  arraying, 
At  Barley-break  were  playing, 
Laura  in  Hell  was  caught, 
Then  O  how  Dorus  laught  ! 
And  said,  good  mistress,  sith  you 
Will  needs  thither,  have  with  you."  3 

The  other  songs  illustrate  decorative  treatment 
of  the  madrigal ;  in  one,  the  old  motive  of  the 
lover's  sorrow  in  springtime  is  presented  with 
great  luxury  of  phrase. 

In  the  same  year,  1597,  George  Kirbye  published 
i  Musa  Madriyalesca,  p.  88.      *  jua.,  p.  93.     3  ma.,  p.  98. 


222  THE   ELIZABETHAN  LYRIC  [chap. 

a  set  of  twenty-four  madrigals.  This  collection  is 
of  rather  ordinary  literary  merit,  but  it  contains  a 
setting  of  two  stanzas  of  the  dirge  in  Spenser's 
Eleventh  Eclogue.1  The  character  of  the  words 
seems  to  have  been  more  or  less  unimportant  to 
the  madrigal  composer,  so  long  as  they  were  of  the 
right  length.  From  this  time  on  quotations  from 
successful  poems  are  frequently  used  as  substitutes 
for  the  true  madrigal  form.  Of  course,  where  the 
quotation  is  from  a  long  lyric,  as  in  this  case,  and 
where  each  stanza  is  set  as  a  separate  madrigal, 
all  sense  of  lyric  form  is  lost.  The  other  songs  in 
this  volume  are  of  the  short  epigrammatic  type. 

In  this  year  appeared  the  second  part  of  Musica 
Transalpina,  edited  by  Nicholas  Younge.  This  col- 
lection of  twenty-four  madrigals  has  some  very 
interesting  songs.  The  best  is  probably  the  de- 
scription of  a  "  dark  lady,"  which  in  its  choice  of 
complexions  follows  Shakspere  and  the  sonneteers. 
It  is  very  close  to  the  example  already  quoted 
from  Theocritus :  — 

"  Brown  is  my  love,  but  graceful ; 
And  each  renowned  whiteness 

Matched  with  her  lovely  brown,  loseth  its  brightness. 
Fair  is  my  love,  but  scornful ; 
Yet  have  I  seen  despised 
Dainty  white  lilies,  and  sad  flowers  well  prized."2 

The  other  madrigals  are  of  the  same  ornate  Italian 
style.     The  translations  from  the  original  versions 

1  Musa  Mudrlgalesca,  p.  310.  2  Ibid.,  p.  54. 


vii.]  THE   SONG-BOOKS  223 

show  considerable  sympathy  with  this  pseudo- 
pastoral  mood  if  not  with  the  literal  themes.  The 
song,  "  So  saith  my  fair  and  beautiful  Lycoris," * 
illustrates  them  all.  One  madrigal,  however,  a 
drinking-song,  seems  to  be  an  original  English 
composition.  As  one  of  the  first  examples  of  the 
theme,  it  claims  a  moment's  attention.  It  is  the 
personal  expression  of  one  man's  love  of  drink, 
instead  of  the  choral  bacchanalian  lyric  found  in 
the  drama.  The  singer  tells  how  his  eyes  have 
become  affected  from  much  liquor.  The  doctor 
has  evidently  prescribed  total  abstinence,  but  the 
patient  is  firm :  — 

"Mine  eyes  shall  not  be  my  commanders, 
For  I  maintain  and  ever  shall ; 
Better  the  windows  bide  the  dangers, 
Than  to  spoil  the  house  and  all."  2 

In  1597  also  appeared  the  first  book  of  one  of 
the  greatest  madrigal  composers,  Thomas  Weelkes. 
This  collection  contained  the  song,  "  My  flocks  feed 
not,"  republished  in  the  Passionate  Pilgrim  and 
attributed  to  Shakspere.  Each  of  the  three  stanzas 
was  set  as  a  separate  madrigal.  Two  other  mad- 
rigals contain  descriptions  of  the  Morris  dance, 
such  as  we  have  noticed  before ;  the  rest  are  on 
moral  themes,  or  continue  the  ornate  development 
of  the  madrigal  form.  In  one  example  Cupid  is 
overcome  at   sight   of  the   matchless   Chloris;   in 

i  Ibid.,  p.  57.  2  Ibid.,  p.  55. 


224  THE   ELIZABETHAN  LYRIC  [chap. 

another  the  lily  cheeks  of  Phillis  are  blamed  for 
the  poet's  love  misery. 

The  most  important  song-book  of  the  year  was 
John  Dowland's  First  Book  of  Songs  or  Airs. 
This  contained  twenty-one  songs  for  four  voices, 
with  an  optional  accompaniment  for  the  lute.  The 
significance  of  the  book  in  the  history  of  Eliza- 
bethan song-writing  is  very  great,  but  it  can  hardly 
be  appreciated  without  some  knowledge  of  its  musi- 
cal importance.  As  has  been  noticed,  the  madrigal- 
form  marked  the  first  step  in  the  secularization  of 
church  music.  With  the  secular  words,  the  strict 
rules  of  ecclesiastical  composition  at  first  re- 
mained in  force.  But  two  strong  influences  were 
at  work  during  this  madrigal  period,  tending  to 
substitute  for  the  contrapuntal  movement  a  clear- 
cut  rhythm.  The  first  of  these  influences  was  the 
English  popular  song.1  In  its  uncultivated  state, 
illustrated  by  the  tunes  mentioned  in  the  miscella- 
nies, this  native  music  was  a  simple  melody,  un- 
accompanied, principally  characterized  by  strong 
rhythm.  The  people  who  cared  for  such  tunes 
probably  would  not  appreciate  the  scholastic  music 
of  the  madrigal,  and  undoubtedly  the  educated 
musicians  scorned  the  common  melodies.  Both 
classes,  however,  would  hear  just  such  tunes  when- 
ever a  song  was  rendered  at  the  theatre ;  for  as  we 
shall  see,  in  the  matter  of  lyrics  the  Elizabethan 
stage  appealed  directly  to  the  native  English  genius. 
1  Oxford  History  of  Music,  iii.  p.  12. 


vii.]  THE   SONG-BOOKS  225 

As  the  great  dramatic  period  advanced,  the  popular 
music  under  its  patronage  came  to  be  a  powerful 
influence. 

At  the  other  end  of  society,  among  the  cultivated 
musicians  themselves,  a  similar  effect  was  achieved 
by  the  favorite  musical  instrument,  the  lute.1  Pas- 
sages of  contrapuntal  nature,  calling  for  several 
voices,  could  not  be  rendered  on  a  lute ;  its  per- 
formances were  limited  to  melodies  and  chords  — 
the  material  of  modern  music.  So  long  as  the 
madrigal  was  strictly  written,  it  had  to  be  sung 
unaccompanied.  Meanwhile  the  lute-music  became 
more  and  more  free  from  the  rules,  as  the  lutanists 
came  to  realize  the  needs  of  their  instrument. 
Dowland  was  the  greatest  lutanist  of  his  day  ;  it  was 
but  natural  that  he  should  write  his  songs  with 
reference  to  lute  accompaniment,  and  therefore 
with  disregard  of  the  madrigal  form.  The  result 
was  a  melody  clearly  defined,  with  the  other  voices 
subordinated,  and  with  an  accompaniment  of  rhyth- 
mic chords  on  the  lute.  Sometimes,  as  in  this  first 
volume  of  Dowland's,  the  songs  were  so  written 
that  the  principal  part  or  melody  might  be  sung  as 
a  solo.  In  that  case  the  other  voices  were  supplied 
by  a  lute  or  by  some  combination  of  string  instru- 
ments. These  departures  from  the  strict  madrigal 
form  were  received  with  favor  by  the  general  pub- 
lic, but  for  a  long  time  the  scholarly  musicians 
spoke  of  them  with  little  respect.  To  distinguish 
1  Ibid.,  p.  16. 
Q 


22G  THE   ELIZABETHAN   LYRIC  [chap. 

thein  from  the  classic  forms,  even  when  written 
for  four  or  five  voices,  they  called  them  Ayres. 
When  we  reach  Rossiter's  book  of  1601,  we  shall 
find  many  significant  phrases  in  the  preface.  The 
author,  probably  Campion,  admits,  as  a  good  musi- 
cian should,  the  superiority  of  madrigal  music ;  "  as 
in  poesy  we  give  the  preeminence  to  the  Heroical 
poem ;  so  in  music,  we  yield  the  chief  place  to  the 
grave  and  well-invented  Motet."  Yet  an  appeal 
has  been  made  just  before,  not  to  the  scholars,  but 
to  the  people :  "  For  the  note  and  tableture,  if  they 
satisfy  the  most,  we  have  our  desire ;  let  expert 
masters  please  themselves  with  better."  1 

This  preface  begins  with  a  significant  definition 
of  airs:  "What  epigrams  are  in  poetry,  the 
same  are  airs  in  music ;  then  in  their  chief  perfec- 
tion when  they  are  short  and  well  seasoned."  This 
epigrammatic  briefness  in  the  new  music  wrought 
an  important  change  in  the  words.  It  has  been 
noticed  already  that  the  madrigal,  because  of  con- 
stant repetition  of  the  musical  phrases,  called  for 
only  a  short  lyric.  Much  of  such  contrapuntal 
effect,  however,  was  now  discarded  in  the  airs, 
and  there  was  nothing  left  but  the  melody.  This 
was  often  too  short  for  use  if  sung  only  once,  so  the 
composer  arranged  to  repeat  it  to  the  other  stanzas 
of  the  lyric.  This  repetition,  contrary  to  the  mad- 
rigal in  effect,  immediately  encouraged  the  com- 
position of  songs  three  or  four  stanzas  in  length. 
1  Works  of  Thomas  Campion,  A.  H.  Bullen,  1S89,  p.  5. 


vn.]  THE   SONG-BOOKS  227 

With  this  lengthening  of  the  songs  came  the  typical 
and  famous  lyric-writing  of  the  period.  For  its 
proper  development  the  lyric  needed  more  room  than 
could  be  found  in  the  ten-line  madrigal  or  the  eight- 
line  rispetto.  But  the  typical  length  of  the  airs, 
twenty  or  thirty  lines,  answered  exactly  to  the  genius 
of  the  best  song-writers,  like  Campion;  and  later  it 
furnished  a  literary,  though  no  longer  a  musical, 
model  for  Herrick. 

The  lyrics  in  Dowland's  first  book  are  interesting 
as  bearing  out  these  general  statements.  The  part- 
ing-song, "Now,  0  now  I  needs  must  part," *  contains 
seven  quatrains,  and  the  other  pieces  are  long  in 
proportion.  Peele's  famous  song  from  Polyhymnia, 
"His  golden  locks  time  hath  to  silver  turned,"2  is 
set  to  music  entire.  There  are  also  three  lyrics  by 
Fulke  Greville,  Sidney's  friend.  The  new  style  of 
part-song  permitted  all  these  lyrics  to  be  set  without 
curtailment.  The  best  of  Greville's  contributions 
is  probably  the  song :  — 

"  Away  with  these  self-loving  lads 

Whom  Cupid's  arrow  never  glads  ! 

Away,  poor  souls,  that  sigh  and  weep, 

In  love  of  those  that  lie  asleep  ; 
For  Cupid  is  a  meadow  god 
And  forceth  none  to  kiss  the  rod.'1 3 

In  1598  Thomas  Weelkes  published  his  second 
book,  Ballets  and  Madrigals  to  Five  Voices.  His 
collection   consists   of  dance-songs,  all  written   on 

1  Musa  Madrigalesca,  p.  152.  2  Ibid.,  p.  157. 

3  Ibid.,  p.  160. 


228  THE   ELIZABETHAN   LYRIC  [chap. 

the  same  model.  A  simple  stanza,  usually  a 
quatrain,  is  followed  by  a  refrain  of  monosyllables, 
such  as  "  Fa  la,  la."  The  themes  expressed  are 
but  imitations  of  the  perennial  dance-motives,  — 
youth,  springtime,  and  love.  There  is  the  usual 
invitation  to  the  dance,1  and  the  familiar  parting- 
song,  when  the  pleasure  is  over.2  In  one  song  the 
despairing  poet  bids  unkind  Phillis  enjoy  herself 
at  the  dance  ;  he  meanwhile  will  mourn  his  broken 
heart.3  The  deepest  note  struck  is  the  praise  of 
youth,  where  the  joy  of  life  is  usually  contrasted, 
in  true  Renascence  mood,  with  the  dark  approach 

of  age  :  — 

"For  youth  it  well  beseemeth, 
That  pleasure  he  esteemeth  ; 
And  sullen  age  is  hated, 
That  mirth  would  have  abated."  * 

In  the  same  year  appeared  John  Wilbye's  Madri- 
gals. Wilbye  was  one  of  the  best-known  masters 
of  the  older,  severe  style  of  writing,  and  his  book 
illustrates  in  music  and  words  the  strict  form  of 
the  madrigal.  Probably  the  best  example  is  the 
familiar  "Lady,  when  I  behold  the  roses  sprouting," 
a  translation  from  the  Italian.5  Most  of  the  songs, 
perhaps  because  of  the  strong  Italian  influence, 
retain  the  artificial  mood  of  the  ornate  pastoral. 
Chloris  and  Amaryllis  and  roses  and  lilies  are  still 
the  rimester's  stock  in  trade.     But  the  song-books 

1  Mvsa  Madrigalesca,  p.  122.  4  Ibid.,  p.  120. 

2  Ibid.,  p.  137.  *Ibid.,p.  177. 
8  Ibid.,  p.  122. 


vii.]  THE   SONG-BOOKS  229 

are  by  this  time  made  up  to  please  all  the  tastes  of 
the  public,  and  some  of  the  public  seem  to  have 
liked  moral  themes,  or  at  least  a  touch  of  contem- 
plative melancholy.  The  taste  is  mildly  repre- 
sented here  in  a  song  that  serves  as  a  link  in  the 
long  chain  between  carpe  diem  and  "  Gather  ye 
roses  " :  — 

"Thou  art  but  young,  thou  say'st, 
And  love's  delight  thou  weigh'st  not ; 
Oh  !  take  time  while  thou  may'st, 
Lest  when  thou  would'st,  thou  may'st  not."  1 

In  1600  Weelkes  and  Dowland  each  published  a 
volume  of  songs,  the  general  character  of  which 
is  not  different  from  other  works  of  these  com- 
posers. Dowland,  however,  had  the  distinction 
of  presenting  here  one  of  the  famous  pedler-songs 
of  Elizabethan  poetry  :  — 

"Fine  knacks  for  ladies  ;  cheap,  choice,  nice,  and  new. 

Good  pennyworths,  but  money  cannot  move  ; 
I  keep  a  fair  but  for  the  fair  to  view  ; 

A  beggar  may  be  liberal  of  love. 
Though  all  my  wares  be  trash,  my  heart  is  true."2 

The  great  antiquity  of  mercers'  songs  in  England 
has  already  been  noticed  in  the  second  chapter. 
The  character  of  the  roving  pedler,  especially  if 
he  were  wittily  impudent,  seems  to  have  appealed 
strongly  to  the  Elizabethan  imagination.  In  its 
normal  presentation,  Shakspere's  Autolycus  sums 
up  the  type.  Dowland's  pedler,  however,  is  ideal- 
ized into  a  second-hand  philosopher ;  every  line  of 
1  Ibid.,  p.  182.  2  ibid.,  p.  165. 


230  THE   ELIZABETHAN   LYRIC  [chap. 

his  speech,  in  phrase  and  thought,  is  a  burlesque 
echo  of  the  moral  verses  in  the  miscellanies. 

Weelkes's  book  also  contains  one  song  that  is 
significant,  in  that  it  represents  the  epigrammatic 
development  of  the  madrigal,  which  was  to  pro- 
duce one  of  the  seventeenth-century  types  of  lyric. 
This  particular  song  has  the  restraint  and  pre- 
cision usually  associated  with  Herrick.  Like  many 
of  his  shorter  pieces,  it  has  little  of  the  Greek  lyri- 
cal quality  ;  it  is  better  read  than  sung.  ,  Its  merits, 
intellectual  rather  than  emotional,  are  those  of  clear 
thought  and  exact  expression  :  — 

' '  Three  times  a  day  my  prayer  is, 
To  gaze  my  fill  on  Thoralis ; 
And  three  times  thrice  I  daily  pray, 
Not  to  offend  that  sacred  May. 
But  all  the  year  my  suit  must  be 
That  I  may  please,  and  she  love  me."  * 

In  the  preceding  song-books,  approximately  from 
1588  to  1600,  the  madrigal  form  dominated  both 
music  and  words.  The  transition  from  the  old 
style  to  the  new  has  been  noticed  in  connection 
with  Dowland.  From  the  beginning  of  the  century 
the  new  music  and  the  lighter  forms  of  lyrics  are 
in  the  ascendency,  and  the  madrigal  is  superseded 
largely  by  the  airs.  This  second  period  of  the 
song-books  is  for  the  literary  student  most  impor- 
tant, because  it  includes  the  work  of  the  greatest 
Elizabethan    song-writer,    Thomas    Campion.      In 

1  Musa  Madrigalesca,  p.  133. 


vii.]  THE   SONG-BOOKS  231 

1601  he  collaborated  with  Philip  Rossiter  in  the 
Booke  of  Ayres  already  noticed.  Himself  a  musi- 
cian as  well  as  a  poet,  he  composed  half  the  music, 
and  is  supposed  to  have  written  all  the  words. 
From  the  musical  standpoint  the  book  is  remark- 
able because  the  songs  are  for  solo  voices,  with  an 
accompaniment  of  lute,  orpharian  (a  large  kind  of 
lute),  and  bass  viol.  From  the  literary  standpoint, 
no  other  song-book  can  compare  with  this  for  the 
exquisite  perfection  of  its  lyrics.  It  is  largely  on 
Campion's  verses  that  the  general  high  opinion  of 
Elizabethan  song  is  founded,  and  it  is  largely  from 
the  dainty  lilt  of  his  poems  that  the  age  gets  its 
reputation  for  light-hearted  music.  But  no  song 
writer  is  more  independent  of  musical  accompani- 
ment than  Campion ;  his  lyrics  have  a  sweetness 
of  word-melody  that  could  not  be  improved  by  any 
setting. 

The  songs  in  the  first  book  of  airs  class  them- 
selves easily  under  several  heads.  To  consider 
the  least  important  characteristics  first,  we  should 
begin  with  the  classical  influence.  It  will  be  re- 
membered that  Campion's  Art  of  English  Poesy, 
advocating  unrimed  verse,  appeared  one  year  later, 
in  1602,  and  already  he  was  evidently  experi- 
menting. Besides  the  Sapphic  measure,1  he  has 
several  poems  in  an  irregular  rhythm,  partly  un- 
rimed, Avhich  scans  badly  to  English  ears.  In 
the  following  strophe  the  free  line  binding  the  two 
1  Works,  A.  H.  Bullen,  p.  23. 


232  THE   ELIZABETHAN   LYRIC  [chap. 

couplets  should  be  noticed;  it  is  characteristic  of 
Campion's  art :  — 

"  Shall  I  come,  if  I  swim  ?  wide  are  the  waves,  you  see  ; 
Shall  I  come,  if  I  fly,  my  dear  Love,  to  thee  ? 
Streams  Venus  will  appease ;  Cupid  gives  me  wings  ; 
All  the  powers  assist  my  desire 
Save  you  alone,  that  set  my  woful  heart  on  fire  ! " l 

Campion's  classical  interest  is  seen  also  in  trans- 
lations and  paraphrases  from  the  Latin.  The  best  of 
these  is  undoubtedly  the  version  of  Catullus's  Vivctr 
mus,  mea  Lesbia.2  The  ease  of  phrase  and  the 
song-quality  of  the  words  show  Campion's  art  to 
advantage.  More  characteristic  of  his  classical 
mood,  however,  are  the  Horatian  lines,  suggestive 
of  Integer  Vitae :  — 

"  The  man  of  life  upright, 
Whose  guiltless  heart  is  free 
From  all  dishonest  deeds, 
Or  thought  of  vanity,"  etc.3 

Whenever  Campion  moralizes,  he  is  likely  to 
take  this  tone,  and  his  theme  is  almost  sure  to  be 
praise  of  the  golden  mean.  This  motive  had  ap- 
peared, as  we  have  seen,  in  the  miscellanies,  and 
Campion  at  times  merely  carries  on  the  miscellany 
mood  at  a  higher  poetic  level.  In  the  song,  "  Let 
him  that  will  be  free,"4  he  advocates  the  quiet  life: 
put  the  care  of  the  world  away,  he  says,  and 
learn  the  art  of  content.     In  the  preceding  poem, 

i  Works,  p.  34.  8  Ibid.,  p.  20. 

2  Ibid.,  p.  7.  *  Ibid.,  p.  30. 


vii.]  THE   SONG-BOOKS  233 

he  contrasts  the  trouble  of  a  guilty  conscience  with 
the  happiness  of  innocence.1 

These,  however,  are  not  the  lyrics  that  make 
( lampion's  fame,  nor  are  they  a  large  part  of  his 
work.  The  best  examples  of  his  genius  are  the 
love-songs,  which  have  the  general  traits  of  light 
rhythm  and  joyous  spirit.  A  fair  illustration  is 
the  song  in  praise  of  a  humble  mistress.  As 
Campion  treats  it,  the  theme  echoes  the  old  con- 
trast between  a  courtly  and  a  rural  life :  — 

"  I  care  not  for  these  ladies 

That  must  be  wooed  and  prayed  ; 

Give  me  kind  Amarillis, 
The  wanton  country  maid. 

Nature  art  disdaineth, 

Her  beauty  is  her  own. 

Her  when  we  court  and  kiss, 
She  cries,  '  Forsooth,  let  go  ! ' 
But  when  we  come  where  comfort  is, 
She  never  will  say  '  no  ! '  "  2 

Though  this  is  a  good  example  of  Campion's 
lightness  of  touch,  and  of  his  art  within  the  single 
stanza,  yet  the  song  as  a  whole  is  not  one  of  his 
best.  Its  three  strophes,  each  dealing  with  a 
separate  phase  of  a  maiden's  charms,  have  each 
a  distinct  lyric  motive ;  so  that  there  is  no  emo- 
tional continuity  between  them,  and  the  poem  lacks 
lyric  unity.  This  is  the  same  fault,  on  a  smaller 
scale,  that  was  found  with  Spenser's  Epithalamium. 
Campion  develops  this  idyllic   method  into  a  dis- 

i  Ibid.,  p.  29.  *  Ibid.,  p.  8. 


234  THE   ELIZABETHAN   LYRIC  [chap. 

tinct  kind  of  song,  of  which  the  best  illustration 
is  Carew's  "Ask  me  no  more."  He  takes  some 
one  theme,  announces  it  in  the  first  lines,  and  then 
restates  it  in  the  succeeding  stanzas,  each  time  in 
a  different  image.  Unity  is  secured  by  the  treat- 
ment of  one  theme,  but  the  organic  form  is 
wanting;  the  order  of  the  stanzas  is  of  no  conse- 
quence and  their  number  is  optional.  In  one 
poem  Campion  describes  his  mistress's  face  as  a 
garden,  a  morning,  a  meadow,  as  heaven,  death, 
youth,  and  spring  :  — 

"  And  would  you  see  my  mistress's  face  ? 
It  is  a  flowery  garden  place, 
Where  knots  of  beauties  have  such  grace 
That  all  is  work  and  nowhere  space. 

It  is  a  sweet  delicious  morn, 
Where  day  is  breeding,  never  born  ; 
It  is  a  meadow,  yet  unshorn, 
Which  thousand  flowers  do  adorn. 

It  is  the  heaven's  bright  reflex,"  etc.1 

The  same  method  is  employed  in  two  other  lyrics  in 
this  book,  "  And  would  you  fain  the  reason  know,"2 
and  "  Follow  thy  fair  sun,  unhappy  shadow ! " 3 

A  better  example  of  lyric  form,  though  not  a 
perfect  one,  is  the  description  of  Corinna  singing 
to  her  lute.  The  theme  is  equivalent  to  the  use 
of  musical  images  in  the  sonnets  —  as  Corinna 
sings,  the  lute-strings  sound  in  sympathy  with  her 
voice;  so  does  her  lover's  heart.     A  note  of  arti- 

1  Works,  p.  27.  2  Ibid.,  p.  31.  B  Ibid.,  p.  9. 


vii.]  THE   SONG-BOOKS  235 

ficiality  might  have  been  avoided  by  making  the 
lute  respond  to  her  fingers  rather  than  to  her 
voice.  In  external  form  the  song  breaks  into  two 
parts  —  the  presentation  of  the  lnte  image,  and  its 
parallel,  the  poet's  heart.  Many  of  Campion's 
songs  have  this  twofold  arrangement;  perhaps 
here  is  felt  the  influence  of  octave  and  sextet  in 
sonnet-writing.  The  charm  of  such  a  division  is 
that  it  presents  the  idea,  not  through  an  emotional 
development,  but  through  an  emotional  contrast. 
There  is,  however,  no  emotional  cadence  at  the 
close ;  the  end  of  the  lyric  is  recognized  intellectu- 
ally when  the  parallel  is  completed.  The  last  half 
of  the  song  in  question  is  illustrative :  — 

"  And  as  her  lute  doth  live  or  die, 
Led  by  her  passion,  so  must  I  ! 
For  when  of  pleasure  she  doth  sing, 
My  thoughts  enjoy  a  sudden  spring  ; 
But  if  she  doth  of  sorrow  speak, 
E'en  from  my  heart  the  strings  do  break."  1 

In  this  book  of  songs,  Campion  addresses  many 
different  mistresses,  Corinna,  Lesbia,  Amaryllis, 
Laura,  etc.  The  habit  is  Horatian,  and  no  doubt 
Campion  owed  it  to  his  knowledge  of  the  Roman 
poet,  but  his  audience  had  become  familiar  with  it 
through  the  ornate  madrigals  of  preceding  song- 
books.  The  names  and  the  formula  both  reappear 
in  Herrick. 

Campion's  work  so  dominates  this  period,  that 

i  Ibid.,  p.  ll. 


236  THE   ELIZABETHAN   LYRIC  [chap. 

it  is  an  advantage  to  consider  it  all  at  once. 
About  1613  he  published  his  Two  Books  of  Ay  res. 
The  first  book  was  devoted  to  "  divine  and  moral 
songs " ;  the  second  to  "  light  conceits  of  lovers.'' 
Campion  was  the  author  of  both  words  and  music. 
One  or  two  sentences  in  his  preface  throw  interest- 
ing light  on  the  musical  progress  of  song-writing. 
He  has  a  rebuke  for  those  who  still  prefer  the 
strict  Italian  madrigal :  "  Some  there  are  who  admit 
only  French  and  Italian  airs ;  as  if  every  country 
had  not  his  proper  air,  which  the  people  thereof 
naturally  usurp  in  their  music." 1  His  own  music, 
following  the  new  fashion,  was  intended  for  a  solo 
voice  with  instrumental  accompaniment :  "  These 
airs  were  for  the  most  part  framed  at  first  for  one 
voice  with  the  lute  or  viol ;  but  upon  occasion  they 
have  since  been  filled  with  more  parts,  which 
whoso  please  may  use,  who  like  not  may  leave." 2 
Campion,  then,  represents  in  this  book  practically 
modern  song- writing ;  from  the  opposite  point  of 
view,  he  represents  the  close  of  the  strictly  Eliza- 
bethan lyric  period. 

In  the  "  divine  and  moral  songs,"  the  imitation 
of  Integer  Vitae,  "  The  man  of  life  upright,"  is  re- 
printed, setting  the  tone  for  its  companion  lyrics. 
The  religious  songs,  with  one  exception,  are  con- 
ventional and  indefinite ;  whatever  emotion  there  is 
falls  short  of  the  fervid  imagination  of  a  Yaughau 
or  a  Crashaw,  and  finds  sufficient  outlet  in  well- 
i  Works,  p.  45.  2  ma.,  p.  44. 


vii.]  THE   SONG-BOOKS  237 

worn  phrases.  The  exception  to  this  criticism  is 
the  poem :  — 

"  View  me,  Lord,  a  work  of  Thine  ; 
Shall  I  then  lie  drowned  in  night? 
Might  thy  grace  in  me  but  shine, 
I  should  seem  made  all  of  light."  * 

This  lyric  motive  is  carefully  developed;  the  poet's 
soul  is  darkened  with  sin ;  if  once  it  may  see  God, 
it  will  dwell  in  light.  The  lyric  ends  in  the  con- 
templation of  this  heavenly  light. 

At  the  end  of  these  sober  poems  is  printed  a 
realistic  idyl  of  low  life,  "  Jack  and  Joan  they  think 
no  ill."2  The  daily  cares  and  joys  of  the  farmer  and 
his  wife  are  told  with  minute  details  :  — 

"  Well  can  they  judge  of  nappy  ale, 
And  tell  at  large  a  winter  tale  ; 
Climb  up  to  the  apple  loft, 
And  turn  the  crabs  till  they  are  soft. ' ' 

The  last  stanza  is  a  kind  of  envoy,  addressed  to 
"courtly  dames  and  knights."  The  poet  asks  them 
what  they  enjoy  more  valuable  than  the  security 
and  peace  of  this  simple  couple.  The  lyric  con- 
sciously ranks  itself  with  the  familiar  praises  of 
country  life. 

Among  the  "  light  conceits  of  lovers "  there  are 
many  successful  lyrics.  In  their  epigrammatic  light- 
ness, some  of  them  anticipate  the  cavalier  songs, 
which  followed  them  half  a  century  later.  The 
poem,  "There  is  none,  0  none  but  you,"3  illustrates 

i  Ibid.,  p.  50.  2  Ibid.,  p.  61.  3  Ibid.,  p.  7G. 


238  THE   ELIZABETHAN   LYRIC  [chap. 

this  new  manner  as  applied  to  an  old  theme.  The 
poet  sings  that  nothing  keeps  him  from  sight  of 
his  mistress  but  she  herself;  she  is  cruel  to  hide 
from  him ;  had  he  but  sufficient  opportunity  to  see 
her,  he  would  make  her  immortal  in  his  songs. 
The  "  eternizing "  motive  is  here  worded  with  a 
prettiness  that  seems  a  generation  away  from 
Shakspere's  passionate  mood :  — 

"  Sweet,  afford  me  then  your  sight, 
That,  surveying  all  your  looks, 
Endless  volumes  I  might  write 
And  fill  the  world  with  envied  books  : 

Which  when  after-ages  view, 
All  shall  wonder  and  despair, 
Woman  to  find  man  so  true, 
And  man  a  woman  half  so  fair." 

Probably  the  best  lyric  in  the  book  is  the  poem 
"  Give  beauty  all  her  right."  Not  only  does  it  answer 
the  requirements  of  strict  lyric-form,  but  it  has  an 
additional  interest  on  account  of  its  intellectual 
motive.  These  songs  usually  find  their  stimulus 
in  a  situation  or  a  picture ;  here  the  stimulus  is 
the  proposition  that  beauty  has  no  absolute  stand- 
ard. The  method  of  the  poet  is  to  narrow  his 
theme  gradually  until  it  points  a  compliment  to 
his  mistress.  The  first  step  is  to  illustrate  the 
general  proposition  by  the  varieties  of  woman's 
beauty :  — 

"  Helen,  I  grant,  might  pleasing  be  ; 
And  Rosamond  was  as  sweet  as  she.1 " 

1  Works,  p.  71. 


vii.]  THE   SONG-BOOKS  239 

Differences  in  features  are  not  important ;  some 
men  like  a  bright  eye,  some  like  a  pale  face ;  many 
a  plain  flower  is  plucked  with  the  rose.  Then,  as 
a  last  step,  the  poet  sings  that  differences  of  coun- 
try or  of  times  are  not  important,  and  through 
the  conception  of  eternal  beauty  he  comes  to  his 
point :  — 

"  Free  beauty  is  not  bound 
To  one  unmoved  clime  ; 
She  visits  every  ground, 
And  favors  every  time. 
Let  the  old  loves  with  mine  compare, 
My  Soverign  is  as  sweet  and  fair."  x 

Campion's  Third  and  Fourth  Booke  of  Ayres 
was  published  about  1617.  Its  contents  sustain  the 
general  level  of  his  art,  and  need  here  but  an  illus- 
tration or  two.  The  cavalier  mood  is  represented 
by  several  poems,  all  slight  in  theme  but  graceful 
and  epigrammatic.  A  good  example  is  the  lyric 
beginning :  — 

"  'Maids  are  simple,'  some  men  say, 
'  They,  forsooth,  will  trust  no  men.' 
But  should  they  men's  wills  obey, 
Maids  were  very  simple  then."2 

The  poet  continues  by  exposing  the  lack  of  truth 
in  lovers.  This  song,  like  many  others  in  this 
last  book  of  Campion's,  is  little  more  than  a  string 
of  epigrams,  each  stanza  ending  with  a  snap.  One 
reason  for  it  may  be  the  general  epigrammatic 
tendency  of  the  Elizabethan  period,  from  Wyatt  on. 
ilbid.,  p.  71.  *Ibid.,  p.  91. 


240  THE   ELIZABETHAN   LYRIC  [chap. 

A  special  explanation  may  be  the  form  in  which 
the  songs  were  rendered.  The  music  was  repeated 
with  each  stanza,  and  as  the  end  of  the  tune 
naturally  called  for  a  climax,  the  poet  was  tempted 
to  make  the  effect  by  his  wit.  The  result  is  a  cer- 
tain intellectual  charm  in  every  stanza,  but  the 
fundamental  emotional  unity  of  the  lyric  is  lacking. 
This  book  of  airs  contains  what  is  perhaps 
Campion's  most  charming  song :  — 

"  There  is  a  garden  in  her  face, 
Where  roses  and  white  lilies  grow ; l 

The  unity  of  the  poem  is  secured  by  the  refrain 
describing  her  lips  —  "  Cherry  ripe."  Each  stanza 
pictures  some  feature  of  the  lady's  beauty,  but 
always  in  relation  to  her  lips.  In  some  respects 
the  song  represents  the  highest  skill  of  the  madri- 
gal writers ;  its  theme  is  extremely  slight,  but  its 
effect  is  one  of  richness  without  superfluity  and  of 
sweetness  without  lack  of  force :  — 

"  Her  eyes  like  angels  watch  them  still ; 
Her  brows  like  bended  bows  do  stand, 
Threatening  with  piercing  frowns  to  kill 
All  that  attempt,  with  eye  or  hand, 
Those  sacred  cherries  to  come  nigh 
Till  '  Cherry  ripe '  themselves  do  cry." 

Returning  to  a  chronological  review  of  the  other 
important  song-books,  we  should  mention  the  Tri- 
umphs of  Oriana?  edited  by  Thomas  Morley  in 
1601.     This  was  a  series  of  madrigals  by  different 

1  Works,  p.  117.  2  Musa  Madrigalesca,  p.  106. 


Vii.]  THE   SONG-BOOKS  241 

composers  in  honor  of  some  woman.  There  is  little 
doubt  that  this  woman  was  Queen  Elizabeth,  and 
the  collection  resolves  itself  into  another  such 
piece  of  flattery  as  Sir  John  Davies's  Astroea.  The 
publication  was  important  in  the  musical  history 
of  the  madrigal,  but  its  literary  value  is  small. 
The  songs  were  so  constructed  that  each  ended  in 
the  refrain,  "Long  live  fair  Oriana."  The  themes 
were  various,  but  always  related  to  the  ornate 
pastoral  mood. 

In  1604  Michael  Este  published  a  set  of  part- 
songs.  It  contained  one  of  the  best  known  Eliza- 
bethan lyrics,  Nicholas  Breton's  "  In  the  merry 
month  of  May."  '  In  form  this  poem  corresponds  ex- 
actly to  the  old  French  romance.  The  poet,  strolling 
in  the  fields,  overhears  a  dispute  between  the  shep- 
herd and  his  love.  She  doubts  the  truth  of  his 
passion,  and  he  pleads  for  her  favor;  then,  after 
making  him  pledge  his  love  in  sacred  oaths,  she 
accepts  his  kisses,  and  is  made  Lady  of  the  May. 
The  song  was  written  before  1591,  and  is  said  to 
have  been  a  favorite  with  Queen  Elizabeth. 

In  1608  appeared  Weelkes's  last  book,  Ay  res  or 
Pliantasticke  Spirites,  a  collection  of  humorous  and 
satiric  songs.  In  its  subject-matter  it  marked  a 
new  fashion,  which  continued  for  the  next  three  or 
four  years.  The  best  lyric  in  the  book  is  the 
extremely  vigorous  satire  on  insincerity  and  flat- 
tery :  — 

i  Ibid.,  p.  203. 

R 


242  THE   ELIZABETHAN   LYRIC  [chap. 

"  Ha  ha  ha  ha  !  This  world  doth  pass 
Most  merrily,  I'll  be  sworn  ; 
For  many  an  honest  Indian  ass 
Goes  for  an  Unicorn. 
Farra  diddle  dino ; 
This  is  idle  fino. 

Ty  hye,  ty  hye  !  0  sweet  delight ! 

He  tickles  this  age  that  can 
Call  Tullia's  ape  a  Marmasyte, 

And  Leda's  goose  a  swan,  etc."  1 

In  1609  the  tone  set  by  Weelkes's  book  was  em- 
phasized more  strongly  in  Pammelia,  a  collection  of 
catches.  The  most  significant  thing  in  it  is  the 
sub-title,  "  To  the  well-disposed  to  read,  and  to  the 
merry  disposed  to  sing."  The  song-books  had  evi- 
dently come  to  be  recognized  for  their  literary 
qualities.  These  particular  lyrics,  however,  were 
better  sung  than  read.  The  verses  are  short,  as 
befits  rounds  and  catches,  and  the  themes  are  bac- 
chanalian ;  as,  for  example :  — 

' '  Banbury  ale  ! 
Where,  where,  where  ? 
At  the  blacksmith's  house : 
I  would  I  were  there. "  2 

This  comic  tradition  was  continued  in  the  publica- 
tions Deuteromelia,  of  this  same  year,  and  Melis- 
mata,  1611.  The  latter  is  remarkable  for  one 
famous  song,  "There  were  three  ravens  sat  on  a 
tree."3    This  romantic  little  narrative  has  almost 

1  Musa  Madrigalesca,  p.  140.  8  Ibid.,  p.  253. 

^  Ibid.,  p.  236. 


vii.]  THE   SONG-BOOKS  243 

an  epic  dignity,  and  it  undoubtedly  is  very  old. 
In  these  last  publications  the  traditional  rimes 
of  the  people  seem  to  have  been  drawn  on  for 
material. 

This  brief  survey  of  the  chief  song-books,  from 
1588  to  1616,  indicates  at  least  the  two  classes  into 
which  the  songs  fall  —  madrigals  and  "  ayres."  It 
will  be  seen  that  the  length  of  the  lyrics  was 
largely  determined  in  each  period  by  the  needs  of 
the  music.  At  the  same  time  it  will  be  seen  that 
the  artistic  quality  of  the  words  and  of  the  music 
was  quite  distinct ;  the  words  maintain  a  lightness 
and  speed,  not  with  the  help  of  the  music,  but  in 
spite  of  it.  The  fact  that  from  the  recognized  musi- 
cal qualities  of  these  songs  men  have  ascribed  to 
them  a  setting  far  daintier  than  they  really  had, 
tends  to  prove  the  assertion  made  in  the  first  chap- 
ter, that  verse,  when  it  attains  great  verbal  melody, 
parts  company  with  music,  and  can  best  be  appre- 
ciated alone. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

THE   LYRIC   IN   THE   DRAMA 

To  understand  the  part  played  by  the  lyric  in 
the  Elizabethan  drama,  it  is  necessary  to  go  back 
to  the  beginnings  of  the  drama  itself.  The  first 
religious  plays  were  lyrical  in  quality,  but  their 
structure  was  narrative  ;  in  this  respect,  if  we  dis- 
regard the  fact  that  they  were  acted,  they  answer 
very  closely  to  the  English  popular  ballad.  Bat 
though  the  general  quality  of  the  narrative  is 
lyrical,  there  are  few  lyrics.  A  passage  here  and 
there,  which  might  be  considered  by  itself,  or  a 
lyric  transcribed  from  the  Bible,  such  as  the  Nunc 
dimittis  sung  in  the  Presentation  of  Christ,1  is  all 
that  the  early  plays  can  show  in  the  way  of  song. 
These  transcriptions  from  Biblical  lyrics  are  taken 
over  with  the  narrative  situation,  and  the  passages 
that  by  themselves  might  be  considered  lyrics,  are 
usually  connected  as  closely  with  the  purpose  of 
the  narrative.  A  good  example  is  the  chorus  sung 
by  the  burgesses  at  Christ's  entry  into  Jeru- 
salem :  — 

1  Digby  Mysteries.    Shakspere  Soc,  series  7,  p.  20. 
244 


chap,  vm.]     THE   LYRIC   IN   THE   DRAMA  245 

"  Hayll !  prophette,  preved  withouten  pere, 
Hayll !  prince  of  pees  schall  evere  endure, 
Hayll !  kyng  comely,  curteyse  and  clere, 
Hayll !  soverayne  semely  to  synfull  sure, 

To  thee  all  bowes. 
Hayll !  lord  lovely,  oure  cares  may  cure, 

Hayll  King  of  Jewes." 1 

Seven  other  stanzas  follow,  all  beginning  with  the 
same  word  and  adding  epithets  of  praise. 

It  is  not  remarkable  that,  with  such  a  close  rela- 
tion to  the  religious  themes,  the  lyrics  should  re- 
semble recognized  types  of  Middle  English  religious 
song.  The  acted  drama  gives  the  poet  an  oppor- 
tunity for  realizing  his  conventional  lyric  situation. 
For  example,  the  familiar  motive  of  the  Virgin's 
slumber-song  is  put,  with  a  slight  variation,  into 
the  Coventry  play  of  Christ's  birth.2  In  the  same 
way  the  music  of  the  first  songs  in  the  drama  was 
church  music.  In  the  manuscripts  of  the  York  and 
the  Coventry  Mysteries,  the  music  preserved  is  evi- 
dently that  of  bits  of  the  church  service,  adapted 
for  use  on  account  of  their  familiarity.  Of  course 
in  the  fourteenth  century  and  at  the  earlier,  un- 
certain date,  when  the  first  of  the  mysteries  were 
composed,  the  music  of  the  church  was  the  standard 
for  that  art,  and  it  would  not  be  remarkable,  in  any 
circumstances,  that  the  songs  in  the  plays  should 
be  set  to  it.  But  immediately  a  contrast  becomes 
visible    between    the    severe   style   of    the   music 

1  York  Mystery  Plays,  L.  Toulman  Smith,  1885,  p.  216. 

2  Coventry  Mysteries,  Thomas  Shurpe,  1825,  p.  112. 


246  THE   ELIZABETHAN   LYRIC  [chap. 

and  the  popular  rhythms  of  the  words,  which 
shows  how  quickly  the  lyrical  parts  of  the  drama 
gravitated  toward  the  people's  taste. 

The  second  stage  of  the  development  of  the 
lyric  in  the  drama  is  reached  when  the  lyrical 
parts  are  clearly  defined  and  separated  from  the 
narrative.  The  song,  then,  however  related  in 
mood  to  the  dramatic  theme,  is  ornamental  rather 
than  necessary.  With  the  first  example  of  a  lyric 
in  this  relation  to  the  drama,  the  real  history  of 
Elizabethan  dramatic  songs  begins.  So  long  as  the 
lyric  was  a  part  of  the  narrative,  it  was  obliged 
to  treat  religious  themes.  But  in  its  ornamental 
character,  it  had  a  natural  place  in  those  comic 
scenes  which,  portraying  human  character  realisti- 
cally, afforded  realistic  motives  for  song.  These 
comic  scenes,  such  as  the  episode  of  Mak,  the 
sheep-stealer,1  appealed  directly  to  the  English 
nature ;  and  the  first  ornamental  songs,  embodied 
in  such  scenes,  appealed  no  less  directly  to  the 
common  taste  of  the  people.  This  remains  the 
characteristic  of  the  songs  in  Elizabethan  plays. 
No  matter  how  Italianate  the  dramatic  theme 
might  be,  no  matter  with  what  skill  the  author 
adapted  it  to  his  English  uses,  the  interpolated 
songs  appealed  strictly  through  their  own  merits; 
and  the  only  lyric  merits  that  even  Shakspere's 
audience  as  a  whole  could  appreciate  were  English 

1  The  Townely  Plays,  in  the  Early  English  Text  Soc,  extra 
series  lxxi,  1897,  p.  122  sq. 


vin.]  THE   LYRIC   IN   THE   DRAMA  247 

qualities.  The  result  is  that  throughout  the  drama 
we  look  in  vain  for  a  madrigal ;  the  groundlings 
would  no  more  have  understood  this  compli- 
cated form  than  an  ode  of  Pindar.  But  what  they 
could  understand  was  the  drinking-song  in  the 
Chester  Plays,  sung  by  Noah's  wife,  just  before  she 
entered  the  ark :  — 

"The  flude  comes  fleetinge  in  full  faste, 
One  every  syde  that  spreades  full  farre  ; 
For  fear  of  drowninge  I  am  agaste  ; 
Good  gossippes,  lett  us  drawe  nere, 
And  lett  us  drinke  or  we  departe 
For  ofte  tymes  we  have  done  soe ; 
For  att  a  draughte  thou  drinkes  a  quarte, 
And  so  will  I  do  or  I  go."  1 

It  is  hardly  necessary  to  call  attention  to  the 
vigor  and  speed  of  these  verses.  They  contrast 
sharply  with  the  more  complicated  and  less  certain 
rhythms  in  which  the  rest  of  the  play  is  written. 
As  it  has  been  conjectured  that  the  comic  scenes 
were  sometimes  borrowed  from  the  professional 
repertory  of  strolling  actors,  so  it  is  not  difficult 
to  believe  that  this  drinking-song  had  long  been 
heard  in  taverns,  or  was  an  imitation  of  some  well- 
tried  lyric. 

The  vigorous  rhythm  here  first  seen  reacted  even 
upon  the  conservative  religious  songs.  In  the 
lullaby  already  mentioned,  from  the  Coventry  play 

i  English  Miracle  Plays,  Alfred  W.  Pollard,  Oxford,  1890, 
p.  15. 


248  THE   ELIZABETHAN   LYRIC  [chap. 

of  Christ's  birth,  there  is  an  echo  of  the  drinking- 
song  movement :  — 

"  O  sisters  too  how  may  we  do 
For  to  preserve  this  day 
This  pore  yonglinge  for  whom  we  do  singe 

By  hy  lully  lullay. 
Herod  the  king  in  his  raging 
Chargid  he  hath  this  day 
His  men  of  might  in  his  own  sight 
All  yonge  children  to  slay."  * 

The  music  to  this  song  is  of  the  severe  church 
character ;  the  words,  however,  already  show  the 
compromise  with  popular  rhythms.  It  illustrates 
the  dramatic  law  of  the  pressure  of  the  audience 
upon  the  playwright. 

It  is  well  to  notice  here  another  pressure  on  the 
playwright,  which  encouraged  the  use  of  songs. 
In  the  English  troupes  many  of  the  actors  doubt- 
less had  musical  training.  A  large  number  of 
them  first  made  their  acquaintance  with  the  drama 
as  choir-boys.  It  will  be  remembered  that  Lyly's 
plays  were  all  written  for  the  boys  of  St.  Paul's  or 
of  the  Chapel  Eoyal.  It  is  a  truism  of  the  stage 
that  the  playwright  or  the  manager  will  find  a  use 
for  all  the  accomplishments  of  the  actor.  With  a 
number  of  singers  in  the  company,  then,  there  was 
a  constant  pressure  on  the  dramatist  or  the  manager 
to  insert  songs. 

In  the  early  mysteries  the  only  example  of  the 
Middle  English  love-song  is  in  the  Digby  series  on 
1  Coventry  Mysteries,  Sharpe,  p.  112. 


▼hi.]  THE   LYRIC   IN  THE   DRAMA  249 

the  story  of  Mary  Magdalene.    Mary,  while  still  un- 
redeemed from  her  sins,  is  waiting  for  her  lovers:  — 

"  A  !  God  be  with  my  valentynes, 
My  byrd  swetyng,  my  lovys  so  dere 
For  they  be  bote  for  a  blossum  of  blysse  ; 
Me  marvellyt  sore  they  be  not  here,"  etc.1 

The  simple,  swift  rhythm  shows  itself  here  also, 

where  the  poet  might  easily  have  taken  the  usual 

complicated  stanza  of  such  love-plaints. 

The   chief  characteristic,  then,  which  comes  to 

the  Elizabethan  songs  from  the  mysteries,  is  the 

direct    appeal   to   the   people's   tastes,    shown  by 

the  use  of  popular  lyric  themes,  as  in  the  case  of  the 

drinking-song,  or  more  often  by  the  use  of  popular 

rhythms.     In   the   next   stage   of  the   drama,  the 

moralities,  a  new  Elizabethan  trait   is   developed. 

In  these  plays  the  devil  and  the  vice  become  stock 

characters,  and   a   disposition   manifests   itself  to 

assign  to  them  a  conventional  rhythm.     The  devil 

makes  his  entry  on  most  occasions  with  a  comic 

bluster  and  noise,  and  then  frequently  drops  into  a 

meter  of  short  staccato  lines.     A  good  example  is 

this  passage  from  the  Morality  of  Wisdom :  — 

"  Out  herrowe  I  rore, 
Ffor  envy  I  lore 
My  place  to  restore, 
God  hath  made  this  man. 
All  come  thei  not  thore 
Worde  and  thei  wore, 
I  shall  tempt  hem  so  sore, 
Ffor  I  am  he  that  sin  beganne,  etc."  2 

1  Shakspere  Soc.  Publications,  vii.  p.  70.         2  Ibid.,  p.  150. 


250  THE   ELIZABETHAN   LYRIC  [chap. 

Short  lines  are  frequently  assigned  to  all  supernat- 
ural beings  of  an  evil  character ;  in  one  passage,  to 
Death,  in  Everyman,  and  to  the  allegorical  figure  of 
Voluptas,  in  the  Castle  of  Perseverance :  — 

"Trostyly, 
Lord,  redy  ! 
Je  vous  pry 

Syr,  I  say. 
In  lyckynge  and  lust 
He  shall  rust, 
Tyl  dethys  dust 

Do  him  to  clay."  l 

It  will  be  interesting  to  compare  this  early  habit 
with  the  use  of  short  lines  for  witches'  and  fairies' 
speeches  through  the  Elizabethan  drama.  The 
idea  of  incantation  seems  to  cling  to  the  words  of 
supernatural  beings,  and  the  mystery  of  the  incan- 
tation seems  to  be  helped  by  the  brief,  sometimes 
unintelligible,  phrases. 

The  period  of  transition  in  the  drama  between 
the  moralities  and  the  first  plays  of  the  university 
wits,  about  1590,  is  a  period  of  apparent  uncertainty 
for  the  lyric.  It  is  in  this  period  that  the  first 
imitations  of  Seneca  appear,  introducing  the  classic 
chorus  to  comment  on  the  action  and  to  explain  it. 
The  historian  of  the  English  drama,  however,  here 
makes  a  sharp  distinction  between  the  popular  or 
acted,  and  the  academic  or  unacted,  play.  Though 
the  imitations  of  the  classic  drama  that  are  pre- 
served amount  to  a  respectable  number  as  com- 
i  Pollard,  p.  71. 


vin.]  THE   LYRIC   IN   THE   DRAMA  251 

pared  with,  the  unliterary  plays  that  we  know  of, 
their  influence  on  the  stage  was  infinitely  less ;  oue 
play  publicly  performed  is  more  influential  than  a 
dozen  kept  in  print,  or  performed  only  before 
academic  audiences.  The  same  distinction  must  be 
made  by  the  historian  of  the  English  lyric.  The 
classic  chorus  in  England  is  interesting  as  a  literary 
revival,  but  its  appearance  was  limited  to  an  aca- 
demic stage.  The  real  English  drama  never  for  a 
moment  diverged  from  the  use  of  English  songs. 

Ralph  Roister  Doister,  about  1550/was  a  college 
play,  but  in  its  dramatic  quality  it  is  thoroughly 
unacademic.  It  was  really  acted.  Its  songs,  set 
probably  to  existing  popular  tunes,  make  their 
appeal  to  an  English  audience.  The  song  of  the 
maids,  Margerie,  Tibet,  and  Annot,  is  the  most 
elaborate  in  structure,  but  it  lacks  a  definite  theme. 
Apparently  it  is  an  excuse  for  a  stage  picture.  The 
maids,  while  at  their  work,  sing  four  stanzas,  and 
in  between  Tibet  makes  off-hand  comments.  One 
stanza  is  enough  to  illustrate  the  doggerel  nature  of 
the  verses :  — 

"Pipe  mery  Annot,  etc. 

Trilla,  Trilla,  Trillarie, 

Worke  Tibet,  worke  Annot,  worke  Margerie. 

Sewe  Tibet,  knitte  Annot,  spinne  Margerie. 

Let  us  see  who  shall  winne  the  victorie."  2 

1  Perhaps  the  date  should  be  earlier,  between  1534  and  1541. 
For  an  admirable  discussion  of  this  point,  see  the  essay  by 
Professor  Ewald  Fliigel,  in  Representative  English  Comedies, 
Charles  Mills  Gayley,  New  York,  1903,  p.  95. 

2  Arber  Reprint,  1899,  p.  22. 


252  THE    ELIZABETHAN   LYRIC  [chap. 

The  second  song  lias  more  vigor  and  better  form. 
It  shows  its  indebtedness  to  the  mysteries  and 
moralities  by  its  stanza,  a  favorite  rime-scheme 
with,  them,  and  it  suggests,  by  its  moralizing 
theme,  the  gnomic  poems  of  the  miscellanies. 
AVithout  being  at  all  inspired,  however,  it  has  the 
true  movement  of  song;  its  theme  is  treated  with 
perfect  unity  and  conciseness,  and  the  refrain  of 
each  stanza  contributes  a  certain  lightness  and 
force.  The  first  of  the  four  stanzas  is  a  fair 
illustration :  — 

"  A  thing  very  fitte 
For  them  that  have  witte, 
And  are  felowes  knitte 
Servants  in  one  house  to  bee, 
Is  faste  for  to  sitte 
And  not  oft  to  flitte 
Nor  varie  a  whitte, 
But  lovingly  to  agree." 1 

The  best  song  in  the  book  is  Ealph  Roister 
Doister's  jingle,  "I  mun  be  married  a  Sunday." 
In  subject  it  hardly  rises  above  the  dignity  of  non- 
sense verse,  but  its  rhythm  and  general  lyric  move- 
ment are  contagious.  Like  the  preceding  song  it 
has  a  refrain,  but  uses  it  with  far  more  effect.  In 
fact  the  refrain  is  here  the  backbone  of  the  whole 
poem.  The  significance  of  the  lyric  is  in  its  pop- 
ular quality,  and  in  the  intention  to  please  the 
audience  with  which  it  was  evidently  written.  Its 
early  date  in  the  development  of  drama  songs  is 
1  Arber  Reprint,  p.  36. 


vi  ii. J  THE   LYRIC   IN   THE   DRAMA  253 

shown   by  its   narrative   element;    though   purely 

decorative,  it  is  linked,  in  theme  with  the  story  of 

the  play.     Its  slightly  humorous  quality,  as  well 

as  its  narrative  flavor,  is  illustrated  by  the  third 

stanza :  — 

"  Christian  distance  have  I  founde, 
Christian  Custance  have  I  founde, 
A  Wydowe  worthe  a  thousande  pounde, 
I  mun  be  inaried  a  Sunday."  1 

To  the  year  1555  is  assigned  Lusty  Juventus,  one 
of  the  late  moralities.  The  subject,  the  desires  and 
temptations  of  youth,  gave  opportunity  for  two 
songs  expressive  of  this  romantic  spirit.  Neither 
song  is  to  any  degree  coherent ;  the  refrain  of  the 
first  has  always  been  an  enigma :  — 

"  Why  should  not  youth  fulfill  his  own  mind, 
As  the  course  of  nature  doth  him  bind  ? 
Is  not  everything  ordained  to  do  his  kind  ? 
Report  me  to  you,  report  me  to  you."  2 

But  whatever  be  their  qualities  in  detail,  these 
songs  breathe  the  very  spirit  of  youthful  joy  and 
life.  In  the  second  lyric,  "  In  an  arbour  green,  asleep 
whereas  I  lay," 3  —  the  better  known  of  the  two,  — 
this  Renascence  note  is  struck  with  great  sweetness. 
The  song  stands  midway  between  the  old  poetry 
and  the  new,  and  it  has  qualities  of  both.  The 
mediaeval  convention  of  a  dream  is  used  to  intro- 
duce the  theme;    the  stanza  is  of  a  pattern  well 

i  Ibid., -p.  87. 

2  Dodsley,  Old  Plays,  Hazlitt,  ii.,  1874,  p.  88. 

s  Ibid.,  p.  46. 


254  THE   ELIZABETHAN   LYRIC  [chap. 

known  in  the  mysteries  and  in  Middle  English  love- 
poetry.  On  the  other  hand,  the  lightness  of  move- 
ment and  the  Renascence  mingling  of  aspiration 
with  a  certain  tone  of  regret,  are  very  notable  in  so 
early  a  lyric.  Few  of  Wyatt's  poems  are  more 
song-like. 

In  1560  Gorboduc  was  acted  by  amateurs,  prob- 
ably not  more  than  once.  This  tragedy  contains 
several  choruses  of  the  classic  kind  already  men- 
tioned, whose  purpose  is  to  explain  or  moralize 
upon  the  dramatic  subject.  In  this  moralizing  is 
found  their  only  connection  with  the  English  lyric 
of  the  time.  In  other  respects  these  choruses  ap- 
pear strange  and  superfluous,  and  contrast  strongly 
with  the  English  dramatic  lyric  in  not  being  sung. 
An  illustration  of  their  general  tone  and  skilful 
versification  is  the  following  stanza  from  the  fourth 
act:  — 

"  Blood  asketh  blood,  and  death  must  death  requite ; 
Jove  by  his  just  arid  everlasting  dome 
Justly  hath  ever  so  requited  it. 
This  times  before  record,  and  times  to  come 
Shall  find  it  true,  and  so  doth  present  proof 
Present  before  our  eyes  for  our  behoofe."  1 

In  Bishop  Still's  Gammer  Gurton's  Needle,2 1566, 
an  acted  play,  we  find  one  of  the  best  drinkiug- 

i  Dodsley's  Old  Plays,  i.  p.  150. 

2  The  authorship  of  this  play  is  uncertain,  and  recent  histori- 
ans are  inclined  to  ascribe  it  to  William  Stevenson  rather  than 
to  Dr.  John  Still.  See  the  essay  by  Henry  Bradley,  in  Repre- 
sentative  English  Comedies,  Charles  Mills  Gayley,  New  York, 
1903,  p.  199. 


vin.]  THE   LYRIC   IN   THE   DRAMA  255 

songs  in  all  literature.  The  vigor  and  effectiveness 
of  the  song  in  the  Noah's  Ark  mystery  is  repeated 
in  far  higher  degree  in  "  Back  and  sides  go  bare." * 
This  song  is  so  thoroughly  English  and  popular 
that  it  is  hardly  enough  to  say  that  the  dramatist 
was  catering  to  the  tastes  of  his  audience ;  it  is 
much  more  probable,  as  many  have  suggested,  that 
here  he  borrowed  a  song  directly  from  the  people. 
The  lyric  has  every  appearance  of  such  an  origin. 

Few  better  illustrations  could  be  found  of  certain 
meanings  of  the  term  lyrical.  This  song  is  lyrical 
in  the  sense  that  it  suggests  music,  and  demands 
an  oral,  if  not  a  musical,  expression.  The  strong 
rhythm  and  the  power  of  the  accent  in  the  line 
create  a  constant  tendency  in  the  reader  to  recite 
it.  It  is  rather  remarkable  that  this  musical  sug- 
gestion is  choral ;  the  poet  has  expressed  the  effect 
of  many  voices.  In  the  portrayal  of  character  the 
song  is  subjectively  lyrical.  The  point  of  view  of 
the  singer  and  of  his  wife  Tib,  as  to  what  human 
happiness  consists  of,  is  unmistakable. 

But  what  has  made  the  song  so  long-lived  is 
probably  its  happy  combination  of  individual  and 
typical  human  nature.  The  singer  and  his  wife  are 
clearly  individuals,  yet  they  stand  for  all  the  other 
ale-drinkers,  whose  voices  we  hear  in  the  chorus. 
The  details  which  seem  at  first  sight  true  to  the 
individual,   such  as  the  old   toper's  complaint   of 

1  Kullen,  Lyrics  from  the  Dramatists  of  the  Elizabethan 
Age,  Loudon,  1901,  p.  3. 


256  THE   ELIZABETHAN   LYRIC  [chap. 

dyspepsia,  are  really  as  properly  descriptive  of  the 
class.  The  domestic  pictures,  also,  make  their  ap- 
peal largely  because  they  are  typical  of  a  certain 
kind  of  home,  where  animal  comfort  is  the  stand- 
ard: — 

"  I  love  no  roast  but  a  nutbrown  roast, 
And  a  crab  laid  in  the  Are  ; 
A  little  bread  shall  do  me  stead, 
Much  bread  I  not  desire. 
No  frost  nor  snow,  no  wind,  I  trow, 
Can  hurt  me  if  I  would, 
I  am  so  wrapt  and  thoroughly  lapt 
Of  jolly  good  ale  and  old."  1 

Damon  and  Pithias,  of  approximately  the  same 
date,  belongs  to  the  academic,  unacted  drama.  Its 
author  was  Richard  Edwards,  the  miscellany  poet, 
and  it  is  interesting  as  containing  several  lyrics  of 
the  miscellany  type.  The  subject  of  the  play  was 
such  as  would  induce  the  sentimental  style  of 
writing,  and  with  the  miscellany  poet  sentiment  or 
pathos  called  for  a  combination  of  moralizing  and 
tearing  of  hair.  The  result,  from  the  lyric  stand- 
point, is  not  important.  The  stage  direction,  how- 
ever, for  one  of  the  lyrics,  throws  light  on  the 
manner  in  which  the  songs  were  performed.  "Here 
Pithias  sings  and  the  regals  play." 2  The  regals 
were  a  kind  of  organ;  the  actor  then  sang  his 
part  with  some  kind  of  harmonized  accompani- 
ment. 

1  Lyrics  from  the  Dramatists  of  the  Elizabethan  Age,  p.  4. 

2  Dodsley,  Old  Plays,  Hazlitt,  iv.  p.  43. 


viii.]  THE   LYRIC   IN   THE   DRAMA  257 

Iu  the  Downfall  of  Robert  Earl  of  Huntingdon, 
there  is  a  pedler's  song  which  seems  quite  realis- 
tic. It  answers  exactly  to  the  early  Norman  exam- 
ple already  quoted.1  It  is  not  used  by  a  pedler  in 
the  play,  but  by  other  characters  masquerading  as 
pedlers.  In  such  a  situation  it  would  be  natural 
that  some  familiar  formulas  of  the  trade  should  be 
recalled.  These  lines  are  so  like  the  hawker's  cry 
that  they  have  not  even  the  literary  dress  of  rime  :  — 

"  What  lack  ye  ?  what  lack  ye  ? 
What  is  it  you  will  buy  ? 
Any  points,  pins  or  laces  ? 
Any  laces,  points  or  pins  ? 
Fine  gloves,  fine  glasses,  etc."2 

The  Misfortunes  of  Arthur,  1587,  also  of  the 
academic  drama,  returns  to  the  use  of  the  so-called 
chorus.  After  each  act  the  chorus  sums  up  the 
events,  moralizing  upon  them,  and  points  to  the 
logical  result  in  each  case.  In  the  same  moral 
tone  is  the  speech  of  the  Nuntius  or  messenger 
at  the  beginning  of  each  act.  This  dramatic  prefix 
and  suffix  serve  each  the  same  purpose,  and  differ 
only  in  name.  As  the  action  of  the  tragedy  pro- 
ceeds, however,  the  chorus  becomes  more  lyrical, 
and  its  kinship  with  miscellany  themes  is  revealed. 
The  chorus  at  the  end  of  the  third  act  is  in  praise 
of  the  quiet  life ; 3  that  after  the  first  scene  of  the 
fifth  act  is   on  the  vicissitudes  of  fortune.4     The 

1  See  above,  chap.  ii.  p.  33.  8  Ibid.,  p.  313. 

2  Dodsley,  Old  Plays,  Hazlitt,  viii.  p.  161.       4  Ibid.,  p.  335. 

s 


258  THE   ELIZABETHAN   LYRIC  [chap. 

temper  of  popular  literature  seems  incongruous  in 
the  foreign  dress  of  the  classic  chorus. 

The  transition  period  of  the  lyric  from  the  mo- 
ralities to  the  Elizabethan  drama  ends  with  John 
Lyly's  Alexander  and  Camjiasjie,  1584.  Lyly's 
use  of  the  lyric,  and  the  style  in  which  he  wrote 
it,  are  almost  more  important  than  his  plays.  His 
writings  express  the  Romance  sense  of  art  in  all  its 
ornateness  and  delicacy,  and  the  first  conspicuous 
trait  of  his  lyrics  is  their  advance  in  richness  and 
fineness  of  feeling  over  their  more  English  prede- 
cessors. More  important,  perhaps,  is  the  fact  that 
Lyly's  plays  were  written  for  the  Revels  and  acted 
by  the  choristers  of  St.  Paul's  or  of  the  Chapel 
Royal ;  he  had  no  English  groundlings  to  enter- 
tain. While  adopting  the  English  use  of  the  orna- 
mental song,  rather  than  the  scholarly  chorus,  he 
was  free  to  draw  on  mythology  and  literature  for 
his  themes,  and  to  treat  them  with  the  literary 
grace  of  the  Italian  or  French  poets. 

The  effect  of  this  is  twofold.  So  far  as  Lyly 
himself  is  concerned,  his  songs  are  lyrical  in  only 
a  literary  sense.  They  have  great  verbal  melody 
and  rhythm,  but  they  are  complete  without  music 
—  especially  without  Elizabethan  music.  The 
vigorous  pulse  of  popular  song  does  not  beat  here ; 
the  qualities  of  skilful  structure  and  versification 
are  such  as  can  best  be  appreciated  on  the  printed 
page.  So  far  as  the  drama  in  general  is  concerned, 
however,  Lyly's  songs  had  a  good  influence.     They 


vin.]  THE   LYRIC   IN   THE    DRAMA  259 

set  an  example  of  regular  versification  and  verbal 
delicacy  such  as  was  unknown  before.  To  state 
it  in  other  words,  while  leaving  undisturbed  the 
English  inspiration  of  stage-songs,  Lyly  intro- 
duced a  literary  instead  of  a  popular  treatment 
of  the  themes.  The  drama  after  him  supplied 
English  literature,  on  an  average,  with  much  better 
songs  than  could  be  found  in  any  miscellany  ex- 
cept Tottel's,  or  in  any  song-books  except  Cam- 
pion's. 

One  of  Lyly's  most  successful  and  typical  lyrics 
appeared  in  his  first  play,  Alexander  and  Cam- 
paspe :  — 

"  Cupid  and  my  Campaspe  played 
At  cards  for  kisses  —  Cupid  paid,  etc.  "  1 

This   poem    illustrates    the    literary,   non-musical 

quality  of   Lyly's  songs.     There   is  in  it  none  of 

the  emotion  that  music  expresses.      Lyric  ecstasy 

is  supplanted  by  a  contemplative   delight  in  pure 

beauty.     The  subject  is    idyllic,  but  the  unity  of 

the  single  picture  is  here  represented  by  the  unity 

of  a  single  episode.     When   the  whole  picture   is 

before   the  reader  in  its  beauty  of   detail,  and  in 

the  significance  of   Campaspe's  victory,  when  she 

wins   Cupid's   eyes    and   leaves    him    blind  —  the 

poet    does    indeed    express    a    personal    reaction 

against  this  stimulus:  — 

"  0  Love  !  has  she  done  this  to  thee  ? 
What  shall,  alas  !  become  of  me  ?  " 

1  Bullen,  Lyrics  from  the  Dramatists  of  the  Elizabethan 
Age,  p.  5. 


260  THE   ELIZABETHAN   LYRIC  [chap. 

But  the  reader's  interest  has  been  awakened  in  the 
luxurious  little  scene  between  the  lady  and  the 
god ;  the  poet's  emotion  counts  for  almost  nothing. 

The  spring-song  in  the  same  play  deserves  a 
passing  word,  because  of  its  use  of  English  bird- 
images.  The  connection  between  the  first  blossom 
of  the  year  and  the  first  song  of  birds  is  obvious 
hi  every  literature,  but  in  Elizabethan  poetry  it 
received  what  for  English  literature  is  its  charac- 
teristic expression.  In  this  early  example  the 
nightingale,  the  lark,  the  robin,  and  the  cuckoo 
sing  in  chorus. 

Endymion,  1591,1  contains  a  fairy  song,  an  illus- 
tration of  the  short  meter  used  for  supernatural 
expression.  As  might  be  supposed  beforehand, 
it  is  the  dainty  rather  than  the  malignant  side  of 
fairy-lore  that  appeals  to  Lyly;  in  his  earliest 
song  of  this  kind  we  detect  a  conception  hardly 
less  fine  than  Shakspere's  Ariel.  This  lyric  also 
illustrates  one  of  the  earliest  combinations  of  Eng- 
lish folk-lore  with  appreciative  literary  handling :  — 

"  Pinch  him,  pinch  him,  black  and  blue, 
Saucy  mortals  must  not  view 
"What  the  queen  of  stars  is  doing, 
Nor  pry  into  our  fairy  wooing. 
Pinch  him  blue  — 
And  pinch  him  black  — 
Let  him  not  lack 
Sharp  nails  to  pinch  him  blue  and  red, 
Till  sleep  has  rocked  his  addlehead."  2 

1  Lyrics  from  the  Dramatists  of  the  Elizabethan  Age,  p.  6. 

2  Ibid.,  p.  10. 


viii.]  THE   LYRIC   IN  THE   DRAMA  261 

Midas,  1592,  contains  a  description  of  a  woman, 
such  as  the  romances  or  the  sonnet-series  usually 
include.  An  ornate  description  of  beauty  appealed 
particularly  to  Lyly's  genius,  and  this  song,  "  My 
Daphne's  hair  is  twisted  gold,"1  represents  the 
conventional  love-song  at  its  best.  Not  one  of  the 
details  of  Daphne's  beauty  but  is  copied  from  other 
literary  descriptions,  yet  the  poet  makes  them  all 
his  own  by  the  original  charm  of  his  manner. 
Moreover,  the  luxury  of  such  descriptions  in  the 
romances  is  here  amply  counteracted  by  Lyly's 
fine  taste,  and  by  the  idyllic,  cameo  nature  of  his 
lyric  genius. 

The  bacchanalian  lyric  in  Mother  Bombie,  1594, 
is  in  strong  contrast  to  the  English  drinking-song. 
The  fact  that  Lyly  sings  the  praises  of  wine 
instead  of  ale  shows  the  literary  rather  than  real- 
istic source  of  his  inspiration.  Under  the  Tudors 
ale  became  the  favorite  drink  of  the  people.  The 
importation  of  wines  from  France  and  from  Spain 
was  interrupted  and  curtailed  by  the  wars  with 
those  countries ;  and  the  introduction  simultane- 
ously of  spices  from  the  Orient,  and  of  improved 
brewing  methods  from  Flanders,  brought  ale  into 
sudden  and  lasting  popularity.2  But  aside  from 
this  point  of  realism,  Lyly's  song  is  un-English. 
He  uses  the  machinery  of  the  Italian  drinking- 

i  Ibid.,  p.  12. 

2  Society  in  the  Elizabethan  Age,  Hubert  Hall,  London,  1886, 
p.  76. 


262  THE   ELIZABETHAN   LYRIC  [chap. 

song,  in  which  Bacchus  and  his  followers  are 
prominent  images  of  the  poet's  moods.  Instead  of 
representing  an  English  scene  of  conviviality  in 
any  real  form,  he  simply  restates  the  mythical 
point  of  view  :  — 

"  Io,  Bacchus  !     To  thy  table 
Thou  callest  every  drunken  rabble  ; 
We  already  are  stiff  drinkers, 
Then  seal  us  for  thy  jolly  skinkers. 

Wine,  0  wine, 

0  juice  devine, 
How  dost  thou  the  nowle  refine ! "  etc. * 

This  play  contains  also  one  of  Lyly's  best  known 
songs,  "0  Cupid!  monarch  over  kings!"2  It  differs 
from  the  other  examples  of  his  ornate  lyrics  in  the 
satiric  hit  at  women  which  concludes  it.  The  song 
is  one  of  the  occasional  revolts  against  the  strictly 
chivalric  mood,  which  continue  though  faintly  the 
tradition  of  the  Middle  English  satiric  song. 

The  songs  in  George  Peele's  dramas  resemble 
the  lyrics  in  the  romances.     They  incline  toward 

1  Cf.  the  chorus  from  Poliziano's  Orfeo,  1471 :  — 

"  Ciascun  sequa,  O  Bacco,  te ; 

Bacco,  Bacco,  oe,  oe! 
Di  eorimbi  e  di  verd'  edere 
Cinto  il  capo  abbiam  cosi, 
per  servirti  a  tuo  richiedere 
festeggiando  notte  e  di. 
Ogna  beva ;  Bacco  e  qui ; 
e  lasciate  beve  a  me ; 

Ciascun  sequa,  O  Bacco,  te,"  etc. 

2  Bullen,  Lyrics  from  the  Dramatists  of  the  Elizabethan  Age, 
p.  16. 


vni.]  THE   LYRIC    IN   THE   DRAMA  263 

ambitious  structure,  yet  they  have  always  a  certain 
lightness  of  tone.  Most  of  them  lack  lyric  form. 
A  good  example  of  their  complicated  structure  is 
the  duet  between  Paris  and  (Enone  in  the  Arraign- 
ment of  Paris,  1584.  (Enone  sings  one  stanza, 
then  Paris  sings  one,  then  both  together;  this 
order  is  repeated  for  the  second  part  of  the  song. 
The  opening  stanzas  give  a  good  idea  of  the  lyrical 
quality  of  the  whole :  — 

Oenone.    "Fair  and  fair,  and  twice  so  fair  ; 
As  fair  as  any  maybe  ; 
The  fairest  shepherd  on  our  green, 
A  love  for  any  lady. 

Paris.         Fair  and  fair,  and  twice  so  fair, 
As  fair  as  any  maybe  ; 
Thy  love  is  fair  for  thee  alone, 
And  for  no  other  lady  !  "  * 

Peele's  name  in  lyric  poetry  always  suggests  the 
song  from  Polyhymnia,  1590,  "  His  golden  locks 
time  hath  to  silver  turned."2  This  lyric  owes 
something  of  its  present  popularity  to  Thackeray's 
quotation  of  it  in  the  Newcomes,  but  it  is  good 
enough  to  stand  on  its  own  merits.  It  is  one  of 
Peele's  few  songs  that  have  lyric  unity.  The 
motive  of  time's  changes  introduced  in  the  first 
line  is  continued  throughout ;  it  is  illustrated  by 
the  change  in  the  warrior's  appearance  from  the 
beauty  of  youth  to  the  decay  of  age;  then  it  is 
imaged  in  the  warrior's  change  of  occupation,  from 

i  Works  of  George  Peek,  A.  H.  Bullen,  1888,  i.  p.  20. 
2  Rid.,  ii.  p.  302. 


264  THE    ELIZABETHAN   LYRIC  [chap. 

war  to  peace,  from  love-songs   to   prayers ;    then 

finally,  in  contrast,  the  devotion  to  his  sovereign 

remains  unchangeable :  — 

"  Though  from  court  to  cottage  he  depart, 
His  saint  is  sure  of  his  unspotted  heart." 

The  Old  Wives'  Tale,  1595,  contains  a  harvest- 
song,  one  of  the  first  examples  of  what  seems  a 
favorite  type  with  the  dramatists.  Usually  it  is 
taken  almost  directly  from  life ;  by  the  rudeness 
of  phrases  and  the  simplicity  of  ideas  the  poet 
attempts  realism.  Here,  however,  Peele  carries 
over  the  images  into  another  sphere :  — 

"  Lo,  here  we  come  a-sowing,  a-sowing, 
And  sow  sweet  fruits  of  love."  1 

Thomas  Xashe's  Summer's  Last  Will  and  Testa- 
ment, 1G00,  has  a  number  of  fine  songs.  The  tradi- 
tion of  the  English  spring-song,  which  we  have 
seen  represented  in  Lyly,  is  here  carried  on  by 
"Spring,  the  sweet  spring,  is  the  year's  pleasant 
king."  2  The  singing  of  the  birds  is  made  more 
than  usually  important  by  the  imitation  of  them 
in  the  refrain.  Several  phrases,  as  well  as  the 
general  spirit  of  this  lyric,  suggest  Shakspere's 
"It  was  a  lover  and  his  lass."  The  date  of  As  You 
Like  It  is  probably  1599,3  almost  the  same  year  as 
Xashe's  drama ;  it  is  impossible  to  tell  which  poet 
imitated  the  other. 

i  Works,  i.  p.  314.        2  Dodsley,  Old  Plmjs,  Hazlitt,  viii.  p.  23. 

3  For  convenience,  the  dates  given  for  Shakspere's  plays 
follow  Sidney  Lee's  Life  of  Shakspere,  and  the  disputed  author- 
ship of  some  songs  is  not  discussed. 


viii.]  THE   LYRIC   IN   THE   DRAMA  265 

There  is  a  harvest-song  of  the  type  referred  to  in 
the  preceding  paragraphs.  It  seems  to  be  more  or 
less  a  transcription  from  some  rude  rimes  of  the 
country  folk :  — 

"  Hooky,  hooky,  we  have  shorn, 
And  we  have  bound, 
And  we  have  brought  Harvest 
Home  to  town."  x 

There  is,  of  course,  no  opportunity  in  a  stanza  of 
this  length  for  lyric  development.  Throughout 
the  Elizabethan  drama  occur  examples  of  this  kind 
of  undeveloped  lyric  atom  —  usually  in  quotations 
from  popular  ballads  or  from  folk-songs. 

The  most  remarkable  lyrics  in  this  play  are 
those  which,  while  mourning  departed  summer  and 
approaching  winter,  voice  a  curious  note  of  pessi- 
mism, even  of  despair.  The  best  example  is  the 
lyric,  "Adieu;  farewell  earth's  bliss,"2  with  its 
curious  refrain  taken  from  the  Litany.  In  theme 
this  is  but  a  statement  of  the  miscellany  motive, 
that  life  is  uncertain;  but  ISTashe,  by  the  poignancy 
of  the  grief  expressed,  raises  his  poem  far  above 
miscellany  standards.  The  central  motive  is  stated 
in  the  first  lines  :  — 

"  Adieu  ;  farewell  earth's  bliss, 
This  life  uncertain  is." 

This  truth  is  illustrated  in  the  second  stanza  by 
the  image  of  the  rich  man  unable  to  buy  health  ;  in 
the  third  stanza  by  the  image  of  beauty  worn  down 

i  Dodsley,  Old  Plays,  Hazlitt,  viii.  p.  49.         2  j&jtf.,  p.  78. 


266  THE   ELIZABETHAN   LYRIC  [chap. 

with  wrinkles ;  in  the  fourth  stanza  by  the  image 
of  Hector's  strength  become  helpless  food  for 
worms;  and  in  the  fifth  stanza  by  the  image  of 
wit  silenced  by  death.  The  lyric  is  full  of  the 
horror  of  pestilence ;  probably  it,  as  well  as  its 
companion  songs,  "  Autumn  hath  all  the  summer's 
fruitful  treasure,"1  and  "  Fair  summer  droops,  droop 
men  and  beasts  therefore,"2  was  inspired  by  the 
plague  of  1592. 

Thomas  Kyd's  Cornelia,  translated  from  the 
French  poet  Gamier,  contains  several  choruses  of 
the  classic  kind  already  noticed.  Kyd's  examples 
are  almost  the  best  that  we  have  met,  but  it  is 
fairly  certain  that  his  drama  was  never  acted. 
The  chorus  on  fortune,  a  true  miscellany  subject, 
has  considerable  dignity  :  — 

"  Fortune  in  power  imperious 
Used  o'er  the  world  and  worldlings  thus 

To  tyrannize  ; 
"When  she  hath  heapt  her  gifts  on  us 

Away  she  flies,"  etc.3 

Kyd  is  certainly  not  a  song-writer,  in  the  sense 
that  Campion  or  ISTashe  is,  but  his  perfectly  ade- 
quate literary  art  makes  his  commonplace  themes 
often  very  effective.  As  the  tone  he  adopts  is,  from 
the  nature  of  his  subjects,  dogmatic  or  gnomic,  he 
has  little  opportunity  for  lyric  form  ;  he  teaches  his 
lesson,  whether  of  fortune   or  of   human   frailty, 

i  Old  Plays,  p.  89.  2  Ibid.,  p.  20. 

3  Works  of  Thomas  Kyd,  F.  S.  Boas,  Oxford,  1901,  p.  132. 


viii.]  THE   LYRIC   IN   THE    DRAMA  267 

without  any  emotion  at  all,  except  what  may  be 
excited  iu  his  readers  by  the  pleasure  of  his  rather 
good  verses. 

Thomas  Dekker,  like  Kyd,  has  something  of  the 
old  gnomic  subject-matter,  but  he  is  a  truer  singer. 
Two  songs  of  his,  from  Patient  Grissell,  1599,  are 
especially  beautiful,  and  show  that  if  he  lacked  the 
harmonious  strength  of  the  great  lyrists,  he  was  at 
least  master  of  melody.  The  first  of  these  songs, 
"  Art  thou  poor,  yet  hast  thou  golden  slumbers  ?  " 
is  an  ornate  praise  of  the  simple  life.  It  is  full 
of  musical  cadences,  got  from  the  repetition  of 
phrases  :  — 

"Art  thou  poor,  yet  hast  thou  golden  slumbers  ? 

0  sweet  content ! 
Art  thou  rich,  yet  is  thy  mind  perplexed  ? 

O  punishment  ! 
Dost  thou  laugh  to  see  how  fools  are  vex6d 
To  add  to  golden  numbers,  golden  numbers  ? 
O  sweet  content !  0  sweet  0  sweet  content !  "  etc.1 

The  same  qualities,  on  a  smaller  scale,  appear  in 
the  second  song,  a  lullaby,  "  Golden  slumbers  kiss 
your  eyes."  2 

In  Shakspere's  songs  we  have  the  highest  develop- 
ment of  the  lyric  in  the  drama.  As  the  plays  be- 
came less  narrative  and  more  dramatic,  there  was 
less  and  less  room  for  long  lyrics.  In  Shakspere 
the  songs  are  quite  short,  yet  they  are  well  de- 
veloped and  have   perfect   lyric   form.     "Who   is 

i  Prose  Works,  A.  B.  Grosart,  188G,  v.  p.  121. 
*Ibid.,  v.  p.  193. 


268  THE    ELIZABETHAN  LYRIC  [chap. 

Silvia,"  in  Two  Gentlemen  of  Verona,  1591,  is  one 

of  the  best.     In  external  structure  it  follows  the 

song  in  Astrophel  and  Stella  :  — 

'•  Who  is  it  that  this  dark  night 
Underneath  my  window  plaineth  ?  "  1 

The  first  two  lines  of  each  stanza  ask  a  ques- 
tion, which  is  answered  in  the  last  three.  This 
antiphonal  effect  is  heightened  by  the  alternate  use 
of  iambic  and  trochaic  lines.  In  the  first  stanza 
Silvia  is  found  to  have  beauty  of  soul,  of  body,  and 
of  mind  —  "  Holy,  fair,  and  wise  is  she." 2  In  the 
second  stanza  she  is  praised  for  her  courtesy  of 
manner  and  for  her  willingness  to  love.  In  the 
last  stanza  the  poet  sums  up  her  praises  in  a 
cadence  which  is  rarely  found  in  any  other  singer. 
His  songs  all  end  with  a  fall  of  emotion  and  of  verbal 
melody  which  has  the  effect  of  absolute  finality. 

Love's  Labour's  Lost,  1591,  is  full  of  fine  songs. 
There  is  an  example  of  the  French  romance,  such 
as  we  found  in  Breton's  contribution  to  the  song- 
books.3  Shakspere  varies  the  theme  slightly;  in- 
stead of  overhearing  two  lovers  in  dispute,  he  finds 
Love  enamored  of  a  blossom  :  — 

"  On  a  day  —  alack  the  day  !  — 
Love,  whose  month  is  ever  May, 
Spied  a  blossom,  passing  fair, 
Playing  in  the  wanton  air,"  etc.4 

1  Arber's  English  Garner,  i.  p.  578. 

2  Bullen,  Songs  from  the  Dramatists  of  the  Elizabethan  Age, 
p.  31.  3  See  above,  ehap.  vii.  p.  241. 

4  Bullen,  Songs  from  the  Dramatists  of  the  Elizabethan  Age, 
p.  35. 


viu.]  THE   LYRIC   IN  THE   DRAMA  269 

The  two  songs  that  conclude  the  play,  on  summer 
and  on  winter  respectively,  are  realistic  pictures  of 
English  life,  as  concrete  in  their  own  way  as  the 
drinking-song,  "Back  and  sides  go  bare."  The 
spring-song  makes  traditional  employment  of  birds 
and  flowers  in  its  images ;  the  cuckoo  is  taken  as 
the  typical  bird  of  the  season.  The  winter-song  is 
more  interesting  for  its  idyllic  pictures,  but  other- 
wise it  closely  parallels  the  preceding  lyric.  The 
owl's  screech  takes  the  place  of  the  song-birds,  and 
icicles  hang  where  the  flowers  bloomed.  The  effect 
of  outdoor  cold  and  fireside  comfort  is  vividly 
portrayed :  — 

"  When  all  around  the  wind  doth  blow, 
And  coughing  drowns  the  parson's  saw, 
And  birds  sit  brooding  in  the  snow, 
And  Marian's  nose  looks  red  and  raw, 
When  roasted  crabs  hiss  in  the  bowl, 
Then  nightly  sings  the  staring  owl."  1 

To  mention  all  of  Shakspere's  songs  would  be 
impossible  here.  It  will  be  sufficient  to  note  their 
general  character.  They  divide  themselves  into 
two  types — regular  stanza-forms  with  strong  popu- 
lar rhythms,  and  irregular  cadences,  in  which  the 
great  poet  achieves  his  most  individual  effects.  Of 
the  first  class  a  good  illustration  is  from  Much  Ado, 
1599.  Both  stanzas,  with  the  refrain,  correspond 
exactly  to  each  other ;  it  will  be  necessary  to  quote 
but  one.     The  tendency  toward  a  strongly  marked 

1  Ibid.,  p.  36. 


270  THE   ELIZABETHAN   LYRIC  [chap. 

cesura,  or  even  toward  an  internal  rime,  character- 
izes all  popular  stage-songs,  from  Gammer  Gurton's 
Needle  to  Hamlet :  — 

"  Sigh  no  more,  ladies,  sigh  no  more  ; 

Men  were  deceivers  ever ; 
One  foot  in  sea  and  one  on  shore, 

To  one  thing  constant  never ; 
Then  sigh  not  so,  hut  let  them  go, 

And  be  you  blithe  and  bonny, 
Converting  all  your  songs  of  woe 

Into  Hey  nonny,  nonny."  1 

The  well-known  songs  from  Twelfth  Night,  of  the 
same  year,  "  O  mistress  mine,  where  are  you  roam- 
ing," 2  and  "  Come  away,  come  away,  death," 3  are 
restatements  of  old  miscellany  themes,  but  the 
poet's  genius  makes  them  seem  quite  new.  The 
first,  divested  of  its  melody  and  images,  is  simply 
the  "carpe  diem"  motive;  the  second  is  the  threat 
of  the  rejected  lover  to  court  untimely  death.  The 
song  from  As  You  Like  It,  1599,  "It  was  a  lover 
and  his  lass " 4  is  more  obviously  in  line  with  the 
Romance  pastourelle  ;  the  lovers  meet  in  the  fields ; 
their  wooing  is  described,  together  with  the  song 
which  they  sing.  The  poet  concludes  with  a  re- 
statement of  the  Renascence  motive  that  life  is  but 
a  flower,  whose  springtime  should  be  enjoyed  ere 
it  passes. 

The  most  remarkable  of  Shakspere's  regular 
lyrics  is  also  the  shortest.     It  is  the  song,  "  Take,  0 

1  Songs  from  the  Dramatists  of  the  Elizabethan  Age,  p.  43. 

2  Ibid.,  p.  45.  z  Ibid.,  p.  45.  *  Ibid.,  p.  51. 


viii.]  THE   LYRIC   IN   THE   DRAMA  271 

take,  those  lips  away,"  from  Measure  for  Measure, 
1604.  It  is  really  too  short  to  portray  a  developed 
emotion,  but  it  succeeds  admirably  in  expressing  a 
mood.  Its  chief  value,  however,  is  its  wonderful 
sweetness.  No  song  in  the  Elizabethan  period  has 
more  of  the  emotional  quality  of  music.  The  sad- 
ness, which  characterizes  it,  is  got  as  much  from  the 
sound  of  the  words  as  from  their  meaning.  How 
unique  the  song  is  may  well  be  seen  by  comparing 
the  stanza  added  by  Fletcher  in  the  Bloody  Brother, 
1639. 

Of  the  irregular  songs,  the  first  example  is  in 
the  Merchant  of  Venice,  1594,  "Tell  me  where  is 
fancy  bred."  It  is  divided  in  subject  between  a 
question  and  its  answer;  in  external  form  this 
division  is  represented  by  two  stanzas  of  four  and 
of  six  lines.  Properly  the  first  division  intro- 
duces the  motive,  and  the  second  develops  it.  The 
cadence  noticed  as  characteristic  of  Shakspere's 
songs  is  here  well  illustrated  :  — 

"  Tell  me  where  is  fancy  bred, 

Or  in  the  heart  or  in  the  head  ? 
How  begot,  how  nourished  ? 

Reply,  reply.  « 

It  is  engendered  in  the  eyes, 
With  gazing  fed  ;  and  fancy  dies 
In  the  cradle  where  it  lies  ; 
Let  us  all  sing  fancy's  knell : 
I'll  begin  it  —  Ding,  dong,  bell. 
Ding,  dong,  bell."  1 

i  Ibid.,  p.  41. 


272  THE    ELIZABETHAN   LYRIC  [chap. 

"Hark!  hark!  the  lark,"  from  Cymbeline,  1610,  is 

probably  the  best  known  of  all  Sliakspere's  songs. 
The  image  which  forms  its  chief  charm  is  the  very- 
keynote  of  Sliakspere's  lyric  mood.  It  should  be 
noticed  that  this  is  a  perfect  example  of  the 
aubade,  or  morning-song  of  a  lover  to  his  lady. 
The  conditions  under  which  Cloten  has  it  sung  in 
the  play  agree  entirely  with  its  traditional  setting. 
In  lyric  form  the  song  is  very  quickly  developed. 
The  stimulus  of  the  dawn  is  pictured  in  the  first 
lines ;  the  awakening  of  the  world  is  imaged  in 
the  sun-touched  flowers;  then  the  lover's  emotion 
resolves  into  a  cry  to  his  lady  to  awake.  The  song 
comes  to  its  logical  end  in  the  word,  "  Arise ! " 
repeated  twice. 

Of  Sliakspere's  numerous  witch-songs  the  best  is 
the  famous  trio  of  the  witches  in  Macbeth,  1606. l 
It  has  the  short  lines  and  the  almost  doggerel 
movement  of  the  supernatural  songs  in  the  mys- 
teries. It  is  interesting  to  notice  that  the  method 
employed  for  effecting  emotions  of  horror  —  a 
simple  enumeration  of  fearful  images — is  some- 
what cognate  to  the  way  in  which,  on  the  mystery 
'stage,  the  devils  attempt  an  effect  of  terror.  The 
methods  of  all  these  supernatural  scenes,  and,  con- 
sequently, of  the  lyrics  they  include,  were  probably 
evolved  naturally  from  the  folk-lore  of  the  people 
and  from  the  exigencies  of  the  Elizabethan  stage. 
From  Sliakspere's  great  contemporary,  Ben  Jon- 
1  Songs  from  the  Dramatists  of  the  Elizabethan  Age,  p.  54. 


viii.]  THE   LYRIC   IN   THE   DRAMA  273 

son,  the  lyric  received  a  strictly  literary  treatment, 
which  marked  its  decline  as  a  practical  song.  Jon- 
son's  lyrics  must  be  read  to  be  full}'  appreciated ; 
their  melody  is  not  so  important  as  their  careful 
structure.  They  are  generally  of  a  very  regular 
pattern,  each  stanza  answering  syllable  for  syllable 
with  its  fellows ;  Jonson's  Greek  training  would 
naturally  make  him  disapprove  of  such  irregular 
forms  as  Shakspere  employed.  One  of  the  most 
popular  songs,  which,  however,  is  steeped  in  classi- 
cal rather  than  in  English  feeling,  is  the  hymn  to 
Diana  from  Cynthia's  Bevels,  1600 :  — 

"  Queen  and  huntress,  chaste  and  fair, 

Now  the  sun  is  laid  to  sleep, 

Seated  in  thy  silver  chair, 

State  in  wonted  manner  keep  ; 
Hesperus  entreats  thy  light, 
Goddess  excellently  bright,  etc."  x 

The  lyric  emotion  in  Jonson  never  burns  very 
bright;  he  is  an  intellectual  artist  rather  than  a 
singer.  This  quality  also  takes  his  lyrics  out  of  the 
sphere  of  practical  song,  and  makes  them  the  model 
of  Herrick's  most  carefully  wrought  poems.  One  il- 
lustration, indeed,  from  the  Silent  Woman,  1609,  fore- 
stalls Herrick,  not  only  in  manner,  but  in  theme:  — 

"  Give  me  a  look,  give  me  a  face, 
That  makes  simplicity  a  grace  ; 
Robes  loosely  flowing,  hair  as  free  : 
Such  sweet  neglect  more  taketh  me 
Than  all  the  adulteries  of  art ; 
They  strike  my  eyes,  but  not  my  heart."  2 
l  Ibid.,  p.  62.  *Ibid.,  p.  70. 

T 


274  THE    ELIZABETHAN    LYRIC      [chap.  viii. 

Beaumont  and  Fletcher  frequently  make  the 
same  popular  appeal  as  Shakspere  does,  but  they 
also  show  at  times  the  literary  tendency  of  Jonson. 
The  Maid's  Tragedy ',  produced  about  1G11,  contains 
illustrations  of  both  sides  of  their  art.  The  three 
bridal  songs  are  classical  in  feeling  and  literary 
structure;  the  need  or  the  presence  of  a  musical 
accompaniment  is  not  felt.  A  stanza  from  the  first 
is  typical :  — 

"  Cynthia,  to  thy  power  and  thee 
We  obey. 
Joy  to  this  great  company  ! 
And  no  day 
Come  to  steal  this  night  away, 

Till  the  rites  of  love  be  ended, 
And  the  lusty  bridegroom  say, 

Welcome  light,  of  all  befriended ! "  x 

On  the  other  hand,  Aspasia's  song  has  the  un- 
academic  emotional  value  of  many  of  Shakspere's 
lyrics,  and  its  form  is  simple.  It  is  lyrical  not 
only  in  the  sense  of  being  musical,  but  also  in  the 
modern  sense  of  expressing  personality :  — 

' '  Lay  a  garland  on  my  hearse 

Of  the  dismal  yew  ; 
Maidens,  willow  branches  bear ; 

Say,  I  died  true. 
My  love  was  false,  but  I  was  firm 

From  my  hour  of  birth. 
Upon  my  buried  body  lie 

Lightly,  gentle  earth  !  "  2 

1  Songs  from  the  Dramatists  of  the  Elizabethan  Age,  p.  101. 

2  Ibid.,  p.  100. 


CHAPTER  IX 

METRICAL   FORMS  IN  THE  ELIZABETHAN   LYRIC 

CHRONOLOGICALLY    ARRANGED 

To  notice  all  the  varieties  of  stanza  or  of  rhythm 
in  the  Elizabethan  lyric  would  be  impossible  here  ; 
it  will  be  enough  to  mention  the  most  typical  and  the 
most  unusual  forms.  In  TotteVs  Miscellany  the  lack 
of  rhythmic  variety  is  astonishing,  only  the  iambic 
measures  being  used;  the  stanza-forms,  however, 
are  numerous.  The  most  important,  the  sonnet, 
here  enters  the  literature  for  the  first  time,  and 
even  within  the  scope  of  Tottel's  book  we  can  see 
how  quickly  it  settled  into  its  accepted  Elizabethan 
form.  Wyatt,  the  first  sonneteer,  follows  the 
Petrarchan  models  closely.  The  octave  of  his 
sonnets  seldom  varies  from  the  scheme  abba,  abba. 
Perhaps  because  of  his  epigrammatic  genius,  he 
shows  a  fondness  for  a  final  couplet  in  the  sextet. 
To  achieve  this  effect  he  employs  several  rime- 
schemes,  cdcdee,1  cdccdd,2  or  cddcee.3  This  last 
construction  is  fairly  typical,  and  deserves  an 
illustration :  — 

i  Arber  Reprint,  p.  36.  2  Ibid.,  p.  33.  3  ma.,  p.  70. 

275 


276  THE   ELIZABETHAN   LTEIC  [chap. 

"  Farewell,  Love,  and  all  thy  lawes  for  ever. 
Thy  bayted  hokes  sliall  tangle  me  no  more. 
Senec  and  Plato  call  me  from  thy  lore  ; 
To  parfit  wealth  my  wit  for  to  endever. 
In  blinde  errour  when  I  dyd  parsever  ; 
Thy  sharp  repulse,  that  pricketh  aye  so  sore  ; 
Taught  me  in  trifles  that  I  set  no  store  ; 
But  scape  forth  thence  ;  since  libertie  is  lever, 

Therefore,  farewell ;  go  trouble  yonger  hartes  ; 
And  in  me  claime  no  more  auctoritie  ; 
With  ydle  youth  go  use  thy  propartie  ; 
And  thereon  spend  thy  many  brittle  dartes. 
For,  hytherto  though  I  have  lost  my  tyme  ; 
Me  lyst  no  lenger  rotten  bowes  to  clime." 

Wyatt  shows  a  disposition  to  reduce  the  number 
of  rimes ;  in  one  sonnet  he  allows  himself  but 
three,1  and  in  a  fourteen-line  combination,  not 
properly  a  sonnet,  he  uses  but  two.2 

Surrey  departs  at  once  from  Wyatt's  strict 
models.  His  favorite  form  is  the  English  sonnet 
of  three  quatrains  and  a  couplet.  He,  too,  prefers 
a  small  number  of  rimes,  and  makes  two  sonnets  on 
three  rimes,3  and  one  on  two.4  Grimald  uses  Sur- 
rey's form,  but  with  seven  rimes,  and  as  this  is 
the  form  afterward  practised  by  Shakspere,  it  is 
selected  for  illustration,  instead  of  Surrey's  :  — 

"By  heavens  hye  gift,  incase  revived  were 
Lysip,  Apelles,  and  Homer  the  great ; 
The  most  renownd  and  ech  of  them  sance  pere, 
In  graving,  paintyng,  and  the  Poets  feat ; 

i  Arber  Reprint,  p.  62.  3  ma.,  pp.  10,  22. 

-Ibid.,  p.  53.  *  Ibid.,  p.  4. 


ix.]  METRICAL   FORMS  277 

Yet  could  they  not,  for  all  their  vein  divine, 
In  marble,  table,  paper  more,  or  lesse, 
With  cheezil,  pencil,  or  with  poyntel  fyne, 
So  grave,  so  paynt,  or  so  by  style  expresse 
(Though  they  beheld  of  every  age  and  land 
The  fayrest  books,  in  every  toung  comtrived, 
To  fraym  a  fourm,  and  to  direct  their  hand) 
Of  noble  prince  the  lively  shape  descrived  : 
As,  in  the  famous  woork,  that  Eneids  hight, 
The  naamkouth  Virgil  hath  set  forth  in  sight."  : 

Among   the   longer   verse-forms,  the    "  poulter's 

measure "  —  alternate    alexandrines   and    septena- 

ries — is     most    frequently   used.      This    favorite 

meter  of  the  early  Elizabethans  needs  a  line  or  two 

of  quotation  for  future  identification  :  — 

"  When  sommer  toke  in  hand  the  winter  to  assail, 
With  force  of  might,  and  vertue  gret,  his  stormy  blasts  to 

quail, 
And  when  he  clothed  faire  the  earth  about  with  grene, 
And  every  tree   new  garmented,   that   pleasure  was   to 

sene,"  etc.2 

In  this  miscellany  the  heroic  couplet  is  used,3  as 
well  as  rimed  septenaries,4  and  there  are  several 
examples  of  pentapody  quatrains  —  the  later  ele- 
giac measure.5 

In  several  of  his  epigrams  Wyatt  uses  the  rime- 
scheme  of  the  Italian  rispetto,  abababcc.  This  form, 
destined  to  become  famous  in  narrative  poetry  as 
the  ottava  rima,  is  especially  interesting  here  be- 
cause of  its  reappearance  along  with  the  madrigal 
in  the  song-books  :  — 

1  Ibid.,  p.  102.  3  Ibid.,  p.  98.  5  zbid.,  p.  13. 

*  Ibid.,  p.  7.  *  Ibid.,  p.  201. 


278  THE   ELIZABETHAN   LYRIC  [chap. 

"  Sygb.es  are  my  foode  ;  my  drink  are  my  teares. 
( llinkying  of  fetrers  would  such  Musick  crave, 
Stink  and  close  ayer  away  my  life  it  weaves. 
Tore  innocence  is  all  the  hope  I  have. 
Etayn,  winde,  or  wether  judge  I  by  mine  eares. 
Malice  assault.es,  that  righteousnesse  should  have. 
Sure  am  I,  Bryan,  this  wound  shall  heale  again  ; 
But  yet  alas,  the  skarre  shall  still  remayn."  1 

The  Italian  terza  rima,  riming  aba,  bcb,  cdc,  etc., 
with  a  final  quatrain,  xyxy,  is  used  by  both  Wyatt 
and  Surrey.  Surrey  uses  it  in  his  Description  of 
the  restlesse  state  of  a  lover :  — 

"The  sonne  hath  twice  brought  furth  his  tender  gvene, 
And  clad  the  earth  in  lively  lustinesse  ; 
Ones  have  the  windes  the  trees  despoiled  clene, 
And  new  again  begins  their  cruelnesse, 
Since  I  have  hid  under  my  brest  the  harm 
That  never  shall  recover  healthfulnesse. 
The  winter's  hurt  recovers  with  the  warm,"  etc.2 

In  one  lyric  Wyatt  uses  the  rime-royal,  Chaucer's 

great   stanza.      The   rime-scheme   of   this  form   is 

ababbec :  — 

"They  flee  from  me,  that  sometime  did  me  seke 
With  naked  fote  stalkyng  within  my  chamber, 
Once  have  I  seen  them  gentle,  tame  and  meke, 
That  now  are  wild  and  do  not  once  remember 
That  sometyme  they  have  put  themselves  in  danger, 
To  take  bread  at  my  hands,  and  now  they  range, 
Busily  sekyng  in  continual  change."  3 

Throughout  TotteVs  Miscellany  short  lines  are 
used  in  various  familiar  combinations.  Wyatt 
excels  in  grouping  such  lines  into  stanzas  of  lyric 

i  Arber  Reprint,  p.  82.  *  Ibid.,  p.  3.  *  Ibid.,  p.  40. 


ix.]  METRICAL   FORMS  279 

grace ;  his  skill  in  this  direction  largely  explains 
his  marked  song-quality.  The  illustration  is  quoted 
from  one  of  his  best  known  songs  :  — 

"  My  lute  awake  performe  the  last 
Labour  that  thou  and  I  shall  waste  ; 
And  end  that  I  have  now  begonne  ; 
And  when  this  song  is  song  and  past, 
My  lute  be  still,  for  I  have  done."  : 

The  poetic  Renascence,  illustrated  by  all  these 
lyrics,  worked  a  great  reform  in  the  substitution  of 
short  lines  for  the  old  septenaries  and  alexandrines. 
In  the  anonymous  lyrics  of  this  first  miscellany,  the 
new  and  the  old  styles  of  verse  appear  frequently 
in  the  same  stanza.  One  example  has  an  unusual 
combination  of  alexandrines  and  tetrapodies :  — 

"  The  wisest  way,  thy  bote,  in  wave  or  winde  to  guie, 
Is  neither  still  the  trade  of  middle  streame  to  trie  ; 
Ne  (warely  shunning  wrecke  by  wether)  aye  to  nie, 

To  presse  upon  the  perillous  shore. 
Both  clenely  flees  he  filthe  ;  ne  wonnes  a  wretched  wight, 
In  carlish  coate  ;  and  carefull  court  aie  thrallto  spite, 
With  port  of  proud  astate  he  leves  ;  who  doth  delight, 

Of  golden  ineane  to  hold  the  lore."  2 

The  second  miscellany,  the  Paradise  of  Dainty 
Devices,  contains  several  elaborate  combinations  of 
long  and  short  lines.  The  clebat,  mentioned  before,4 
is  interesting  for  its  anapestic  rhythm :  — 

"  A.  Shall  I  no  way  win  you,  to  grant  my  desire  ? 
B.  What  woman  will  grant  you,  the  thing  you  require," 
etc.3 

i  Ibid.,  p.  64.  2  Ibid.,  p.  255.  3  Collier's  Reprint,  p.  106. 

4  See  above,  p.  83. 


280  THE   ELIZABETHAN   LYRIC  [chap. 

A  good  example  of  elaborate  stanza  is  found  in  a 
love-plaint.  Of  the  twelve  lines,  the  first  four  are 
alexandrines,  the  second  four  are  alternate  alexan- 
drines and  septenaries,  the  third  four  are  tetrapodies, 
and  the  whole  stanza  is  followed  by  a  refrain :  — 

"  Each  thing  I  plainly  see  whose  vertues  may  availe, 
To  ease  the  pinching  paine,  which  gripes  the  growing  wight ; 
By  Phisicks  sacred  skill,  whose  rule  doth  seldom  fayle, 
Through  labours  long  inspect,  is  plainly  brought  to  light. 
I  know,  there  is  no  fruite,  no  leafe,  no  roote,  no  rind, 
No  herbe,  no  plant,  no  juyce,  no  gurnine,  no  metal  deeply 

mined  ; 
No  Pearle,  no  precious  stone,  no  Jeme  of  rare  effect, 
Whose  vertues,  learned  Gallens  bookes  at  large  do  not 
detect. 

Yet  al  their  force  can  not  appease, 
The  furious  fittes  of  my  disease  ; 
Nor  any  drugs  of  phisikes  art, 
Can  ease  the  griefe  that  gripes  my  hart. 
Oh  strange  disease."  1 

The  third  miscellany,  the  Gorgeous  Gallery  of 
Gallant  Inventions,  shows  an  increased  freedom  of 
rhythm ;  several  of  the  lyrics  are  in  anapestic  or 
dactylic  lines.  In  the  song  "Not  light-of-love, 
lady,"  which  is  written  to  fit  a  popular  tune,  the 
dactylic  lines  are  evidently  necessitated  by  the 
music;  it  is  also  evident  that  the  original  words 
of  this  tune  must  have  been  in  the  same  rhythm. 
A  number  of  songs  in  the  book  have  refrains ; 
one  famous  anapestic  example  has  a  refrain  after 
every  line :  — 

1  Collier's  Reprint,  p.  64. 


ix.]  METRICAL   FORMS  281 

"  My  love,  what  mislyking  in  mee  do  you  finde, 

Sing  all  of  greene  willow  ; 
That  on  such  a  sudden  you  alter  your  minde, 

Sing  willow,  willow,  willow  ; 
What  cause  doth  compell  you  so  fickle  to  bee  ? 

Willow,  willow,  willow,  willow  ; 
In  hart  which  you  plighted,  most  loyall  to  me, 

Willow,  willow,  willow,  willow."1 

The  Phoenix  Nest  has  several  examples  of  trochaic 
rhythm  and  of  refrains.  One  lyric  by  Thomas 
Lodge  is  written  in  trochaic  tetrapodies,  with  femi- 
nine rimes  and  a  refrain  of  two  lines :  — 

"Now  I  find,  thy  looks  were  fained, 
Quickly  lost,  and  quicklie  gained ; 
Soft  thy  skin,  like  wooll  of  wethers, 
Hart  unstable,  light  as  feathers ; 
Toong  untrustie,  subtill-sighted ; 
Wanton  will  with  change  delighted, 

Sirene  pleasant,  foe  to  reason  ; 

Cupid  plague  thee,  for  this  treason ! "  2 

In  one  poem  an  attempt  is  made  at  a  verse  of 

but  one  accent,  as  in  this  stanza :  — 

"  Her  face 
So  faire 
First  bent 
Mine  eye,"  etc.3 

England's  Helicon  is  very  rich  in  stanzaic  effects, 
most  of  which  are  got  from  variations  of  simple 
forms.  The  number  of  trochaic  verses  is  large. 
There  is  one  echo-song,  in  which  the  important 
word,  falling  at  the  end  of  the  line,  is  repeated  as 
an  echo : — 

i  Ibid.,  p.  105.  2  Ibid.,  p.  73.  «  Ibid.,  p.  93. 


282  THE   ELIZABETHAN  LYRIC  [chap. 

"  Shall  we  go  dance  the  hay  ?  the  hay  ? 
Never  pipe  could  better  play 

better  shepherds  Roundelay. 
Shall  we  go  sing  the  song?  the  song?"  etc.1 

A  remarkable  example  of  stanza  experiment  is 
the  Sheepheard  Faust  us  his  Song.  Beginning 
with  a  quatrain,  it  repeats  the  first  four  lines  in 
order  as  refrains,  one  after  each  of  the  four  follow- 
ing stanzas.2  Of  the  more  usual  combinations  of 
lines  of  various  lengths,  the  following  example  is 
typical :  — 

"  Happy  shepherds,  sit  and  see, 
With  joy, 
The  peerless  wight ; 
For  whose  sake  Pan  keeps  from  ye 
Annoy, 
And  gives  delight. 
Blessing  this  pleasant  spring, 
Her  praises  must  I  sing, 
List  you  swaines,  list  to  me  ; 
The  while  your  flocks  feeding  be."  3 

Davidson's  Poetical  Rhapsody  contains  an  inter- 
esting technical  device  in  the  inverted  rime,  as 
used  in  the  Dialogue  Poem  of  Strephon  and  Klaius. 
The  rime-words  of  each  stanza  are  repeated,  in 
inverted  order,  in  the  next :  — 

' '  0  whither  shall  I  turne  mee  ? 
From  thine  eies  sight, 
Whose  sparkling  light 
With  quenchless  flames,  present  and  absent  burne  mee  ? 
For  I  burne  whereas  I  view  them, 
And  I  burne  when  I  eschew  them. 

i  Collier's  Reprint,  p.  222.  2  J5jf?.,  p.  107.  3  Ibid.,  p.  70. 


ix.]  METRICAL   FORMS  283 

Since  I  cannot  eschew  them, 

But  that  their  light 

Is  in  my  sight, 
Both  when  I  view  them  not  and  when  I  view  them, 

Ere  their  flames  will  cease  to  hum  me, 

From  myself  myself  must  turn  me."  l 

There  are  several  experiments  in  the  classical 
hexameter,  all  as  unsuccessful  as  such  experiments 
usually  are.  One  of  the  best  is  an  elegy  on 
Sidney  :  — 

"  What  can  I  now  suspect?  or  what  can  I  fear  any  longer  ? 
Oft  did  I  fear,  oft  hope,  whil'st  life  in  Sidney  remained. 
Of  nothing  can  I  now  despaire,  for  nought  can  I  hope 
for."2 

There  are  several  examples  of  a  meter  called,  in 

the  miscellany  "  Phaleuciak."    Its  movement  seems 

to  be,  what  the  similarity  of  name  might  suggest, 

an  imitation   of   the    Phalaecean    meter,   denoted 

thus :  — 

x  w  /  /        /       / 

W^-  —  >*J\J    —    >U    —    \J    —    KJ 

"Time  nor  place  did  I  want,  what  held  me  tongtide? 
What  charms,  what  magical  abused  altars  ? 
Wherefore  wisht  I  so  oft  that  houre  unhappy,"  etc.  3 

The  Italian  madrigal  is  represented  by  several 
examples.  This  form  consisted  of  two  triplets, 
riming  usually  abbabb.  A  concluding  couplet  is 
often  added.  In  a  more  elaborate  form  the  madri- 
gal may  contain  three  triplets,  or  two  triplets  and 
two  couplets.  The  following  illustration  is  fairly 
simple,  but  the  lines,  according  to  the  English 
practice,  are  of  unequal  lengths  :  — 

i  Ibid.,  p.  17.  2  Ibid.,  p.  162.  3  ma.,  p.  us. 


284  THE   ELIZABETHAN  LYRIC  [chap. 

"  Thine  eyes  so  bright 
Bereft  my  sight, 
When  first  I  viewed  thy  face. 
So  now  my  light 
Is  turned  to  night, 
I  stray  from  place  to  place. 
Then  guide  me  of  thy  kindnesse, 
So  shall  I  bless  my  blindness."  l 

Turberville's  Epitaphs,  Epigrams,  Songs,  and  Son- 
nets contains  some  interesting  stanzas.  He  uses 
frequently  the  form  ababcc,  which  became  the  most 
popular  stanza  in  Elizabethan  poetry. 

' '  Here  graved  is  a  good  and  godly  wight, 
That  yielded  hath  her  cynders  to  the  soyle, 
Who  ran  hir  race  in  vertues  tylt  aright 
And  never  had  at  Fortunes  hand  the  foyle  ; 
The  guide  was  God  whom  shee  did  aye  endue, 
And  Vertue  was  the  mark  whereat  she  thrue."  2 

In  Tnrberville's  lyrics  all  combinations  of  alex- 
andrines and  septenaries  —  the  "  poulter's  meas- 
ure "  —  are  printed  as  quatrains.  In  one  case  the 
broken  verses  are  rimed,  so  as  to  give  the  effect  of 
the  "  common  meter  "  of  hymnology :  — 

' '  Your  flowers  for  their  hue 
were  fresh  and  fair  to  see  ; 
Yet  was  your  meaning  not  so  true 
as  you  it  thought  to  bee.  "  3 

One  song  is  written  in  a  most  extravagant 
stanza,  which  has  apparently  little  connection 
with  traditional  literary  models,  cr  with  practical 
song  :  — 

1  Collier's  Reprint,  p.  114.  »  Ibid.,  p.  603. 

2  Chalmers's  English  Poets,  ii.  p.  587. 


ix.]  METRICAL   FORMS  285 

"Of  Tantalus  plight, 
The  poets  wright, 
Complaining 
And  fayning 
In  sorrowful  sounding  songes. 
Who  feeles  (they  saye) 
For  apples  gaze 
Such  payning 
Not  gayning 
The  fruite  for  which  hee  longes 
For  when  hee  thinkes  to  feede  thereon, 
The  fickle  nattering  tree  is  gone  ; 

And  all  in  vain  hee  hopes  to  have 

This  famine  to  expell 
The  flitting  fruite  that  looks  so  brave 
And  likes  his  eie  so  well  ; 
And  thus  his  hunger  doth  increase, 
And  hee  can  never  find  release."  1 

In  the  second  lyric  of  the  eclogue  for  August  in 
Spenser's  Shepheards  Calender,  the  sestina  is  intro- 
duced into  our  literature.  Spenser  employs  a 
slightly  simpler  rime-scheme  than  is  usual  in  this 
difficult  form,  but  he  follows  the  principle  of  its 
structure.  The  sestina  consists  of  six  stanzas  of 
six  lines  each,  followed  by  an  envoy  of  three 
lines.  The  first  stanza  rimes  abcdef.  In  this 
example  each  stanza  begins  on  the  rime  of  the 
preceding  verse,  and  then  continues  the  rime- words 
in  their  original  order.  The  second  stanza  there- 
fore rimes  fabcde,  the  third  efabcd,  until  the 
rime-word  a  falls  last  in  the  line,  bcdefa.  In  the 
final  triplet,  Spenser  breaks  each  verse  into  three 

i  Ibid.,  p.  590. 


286  THE  ELIZABETHAN    LYRIC  [chap. 

and  two  stresses  so  as  to  repeat  the  rime-words  in 
their  original  order :  — 

' '  Ye  wastef  ull  Woodes  !  beare  witnesse  of  my  woe 
Wherein  my  plaints  did  oftentimes  resound  ; 
Ye  carelesse  byrds  are  privie  to  my  ciyes, 
Which  in  your  songs  were  wont  to  make  a  part ; 
Thou,  pleasaunt  spring,  hast  luld  me  oft  asleepe, 
Whose  streames  my  tricklinge  teares  did  ofte  augment. 

Resort  of  people  doth  my  greefs  augment, 

The  walled  townes  doe  worke  my  greater  woe  ; 

The  forest  wide  is  fitter  to  resound 

The  hollow  Echo  of  my  caref'ull  cryes ; 

I  hate  the  house,  since  thence  my  love  did  part, 

Whose  waylefull  want  debarres  myne  eyes  from  sleepe. 

Let  stremes  of  tears  supply  the  place  of  sleepe  ; 
Let  all,  that  sweet  is,  voyd  ;  and  all  that  may  augment 
My  doole,  drawe  neare  !  more  meete  to  wayle  my  woe 
Bene  the  wild  woodes,  my  sorrowes  to  resound, 
Then  bedde  or  bowre,  both  which  I  fill  with  cryes, 
When  I  them  see  so  waist,  and  fynd  no  part 

Of  pleasure  past.     Here  will  I  dwell  apart 
In  gastfull  grove  therefore,  till  my  last  sleepe 
Doe  close  mine  eyes  ;  so  shall  I  not  augment 
With  sight  of  such  as  chaunge  my  restlesse  woe. 
Helpe  me,  ye  banefull  byrds,  whose  shrieking  sound 
Ys  signe  of  dreery  death,  my  deadly  cryes 

Most  ruthfully  to  tune  ;  And  as  my  cryes 
(Which  of  my  woe  cannot  bewray  least  part) 
You  heare  all  night,  when  nature  craveth  sleepe, 
Increase,  so  let  your  yrksome  yells  augment. 
Thus  all  the  night  in  plaints,  the  daye  in  woe, 
I  vowed  have  to  wayst,  till  safe  and  sound 


ix.]  METRICAL   FORMS  287 

She  home  returne,  whose  voyces  silver  sound 

To  cheerefull  songs  can  chaunge  my  cherelesse  cryes. 

Hence  with  the  Nightingale  will  I  take  part, 

That  blessed  byrd,  that  spends  her  time  of  sleepe 

In  songs  and  plaintive  pleas,  the  more  t'  augment 

The  memory  of  hys  misdeede  that  bred  her  woe. 

And  you  that  feele  no  woe, 

When  as  the  sound 

Of  these  my  nightly  cryes 

Ye  heare  apart, 

Let  breake  your  sounder  sleepe, 

And  pitie  augment."  J 

A  good  example  of  the  less  complicated  stanzas 
in  the  Shepheards  Calender  is  in  the  eclogue  for 
April.  The  rhythm  employed  is  iambic,  but  in 
the  shorter  verses  extra  syllables  are  introduced, 
so  as  to  give  the  effect  of  an  anapestic  movement. 
The  stanza  of  nine  lines  is  composed  of  verses  of 
five,  two,  and  four  stresses,  in  this  order :  — 

"  I  see  Calliope  speede  her  to  the  place, 

Where  my  Goddesse  shines  ; 
And  after  her  the  other  Muses  trace, 

With  their  Violines ; 
Bene  they  not  Bay  braunches  which  they  do  beare, 
All  for  Eliza  in  her  hand  to  weare  ? 

So  sweetely  they  play, 

And  sing  all  the  way, 
That  it  a  heaven  is  to  heare."  2 

The  lyrics  in  Greene's  earlier  romances  em- 
ploy simple  stanzas,  usually  the  familiar  ababcc. 
But  in  Menaphon,  1589,  we  have  one  of  the  most 

1  Works,  p.  471.  2  Ibid.,  p.  455. 


288  THE    ELIZABETHAN   LYRIC  [chap. 

complicated  stanzas  of  the  period.  The  song, 
"  Some  say  Love,"  is  written  in  what  is  but  a  varia- 
tion of  an  old  rime-scheme,  but  its  effect  is  quite 
new.  If  resolved  into  its  essentials,  the  stanza  is 
composed  of  two  quatrains  in  tetrapodies,  followed 
by  a  pentapody  couplet.  This  is  the  rime-scheme 
of  Sidney's  ten-line  epigrams.  The  first,  third, 
fifth,  and  seventh  lines,  however,  are  broken  by  a 
syncopated  foot  at  the  second  accent ;  e.g. :  — 

"  Some  say  Love,  foolish  Love." 

These  broken  lines  are  then  treated  as  two  short 
staves,  and  the  two  quatrains  become  expanded 
into  twelve  lines.  The  short  verses  all  end  in  the 
same  word  —  a  trick  of  style  that  appears,  to- 
gether with  a  fondness  for  few  rimes,  in  many  of 
the  highly  wrought  stanzas  of  this  decade.  This 
analysis  of  the  stanza  can  best  be  understood  in  a 
quotation :  — 

"  Some  say  Love, 
Foolish  Love, 

Doth  rule  and  govern  all  the  gods  ; 
I  say  Love, 
Inconstant  Love, 
Sets  men's  senses  far  at  odds. 
Some  swear  Love, 
Smooth-faced  Love, 
Is  sweetest  sweet  that  men  can  have. 
I  say  Love, 
Sour  Love, 
Makes  virtue  yield  as  beauty's  slave  ; 


ix.]  METRICAL   FORMS  289 

A  bitter  sweet,  a  folly  worst  of  all, 

That  forceth  wisdom  to  be  folly's  thrall." 1 

Greene  is  fond  of  separating  couplets  by  single 
lines  of  different  length.  Many  of  his  elaborate 
stanzas  might  be  resolved  into  this  simple  form. 
The  best  illustration  is  from  this  same  romance  :  — 

"  Like  to  Diana  in  her  summer- weed, 
Girt  with  a  crimson  robe  of  brightest  dye, 

Goes  fair  Samela ; 
AVhiter  than  be  the  flocks  that  straggling  feed, 
When  washed  by  Arethusa  Fount  they  lie, 

Is  fair  Samela,"  etc.2 

Lodge  imitates  the  stanza  of  "  Some  say  Love"  in 
Montanus's  sonnet  in  Eosalind,  1590.  He  omits 
the  concluding  couplet,  and  does  not  end  all  the 
broken  lines  with  one  word :  — 

"  Phoebe  sat, 
Sweet  she  sat, 

Sweet  sat  Phoebe  when  I  saw  her, 
White  her  brow, 
Coy  her  eye, 

Brow  and  eye  how  much  you  please  me  ! 
Words  I  spent, 
Sighs  I  sent ; 

Sighs  and  words  can  never  draw  her. 
Oh  my  love, 
Thou  art  lost, 
Since  no  sight  could  ever  ease  thee."  8 

The   short   lines   have   a  tendency  to   paraphrase 
one  another,  as  :  — 

1  Bullen,  Lyrics  from  the  Dramatists  of  the  Elizabethan  Age, 
p.  237.  *Ibid.,  p.  240.  *  Ibid.,  p.  268. 


290  THE   ELIZABETHAN    LYRIC  [ciiap. 

"  Phoebe  sat, 
Sweet  she  sat." 

This  tendency  was  parodied  in  Tarlton's  News  out 
of  Purgatory  :  — 

"  Downe  I  sat, 
I  sat  downe, 

Where  Flora  had  bestowed  her  graces ; 
Greene  it  was, 
It  was  greene, 
Far  passing  other  places,"  etc.1 

Lodge  has  great  skill  in  managing  very  simple 
stanzas.  In  the  tetrapody  quatrain,  for  example, 
he  has  all  the  grace  and  variety  that  distinguishes 
the  later  Cavalier  masters  of  that  slight  form  :  — 

"  Love  guards  the  roses  of  thy  lips 
And  flies  about  them  like  a  bee  ; 
If  I  approach  he  forward  skips, 
And  if  I  kiss  he  stingeth  me."  2 

Sidney's  Arcadia  contains  many  interesting  ex- 
periments. In  one  case  the  expanded  sonnet  of  the 
Italians  is  imitated  by  duplicating  the  final  rime  of 
each  quatrain  in  the  English  sonnet  form  :  — 

"  Phoebus  farewell,  a  sweeter  saint  I  serve, 

The  high  conceits  thy  heavenly  wisdomes  breed, 
My  thoughts  forget ;  my  thoughts  which  never  swerve 
From  her  in  whom  is  sowne  their  freedomes  seed, 
And  in  whose  eyes  my  dainty  doome  I  reede. 

Phoebus  farewell,  a  sweeter  saint  I  serve, 
Thou  art  far  off,  thy  kingdome  is  above  ; 

1  Lyrics  from  the  Dramatists  of  the  Elizabethan  Age,  Note, 
p.  285;  the  parody  is  quoted  in  full.  2  Ibid.,  p.  276. 


ix.]  METRICAL   FORMS  291 

The  heav'n  on  earth  with  beauties  doth  preserve. 
Thy  beanies  I  like,  but  her  cleare  rayes  I  love  ; 
Thy  force  I  feare,  her  force  I  still  doe  prove. 

Phoebus  yeeld  up  thy  title  in  my  minde  ; 
She  doth  possesse,  thy  image  is  defac't, 

But  if  thy  rage  some  brave  revenge  will  finde, 
On  her,  who  hath  iu  me  thy  temple  rac't, 
Employ  thy  might,  that  she  my  fires  may  taste. 

And  how  much  more  her  worth  surmounteth  thee, 
Make  her  as  much  more  base  by  loving  me."  1 

Sidney  is  fond  of  a  ten-line  form,  \ised  not  as  a 
stanza,  but,  like  Wyatt's  epigrammatic  forms,  as 
a  complete  poem.  The  usual  rime-scheme  is  abab 
cdcd  ee;  apparently  the  poet  invented  the  form  by 
leaving  one  quatrain  out  of  the  English  sonnet :  — 

"  Come  shepheards  weedes,  become  your  masters  minde  ; 
Yeeld  outward  show,  what  inward  change  he  tryes  ; 
Nor  be  abasht,  since  such  a  guest  you  finde, 
Whose  strongest  hope  in  your  weak  comfort  lyes. 
Come  shepheards  weedes,  attend  my  wofull  cryes  ; 
Disuse  yourselves  from  sweet  Menalcas  voyce. 
For  other  be  those  tunes  which  sorrow  tyes, 
From  those  cleere  notes  which  freely  may  rejoyce. 
Then  powre  out  plaint,  and  in  one  word  say  this  ; 
Helplesse  his  plaint,  who  spoiles  himself  of  blisse."  2 

The  popularity  of  classical  meters  is  represented 

in   Sidney   by   several   curious   experiments.      He 

attempts  a  Sapphic  strophe ;  if  the  reader  has  not 

the  Greek  rhythm  in  mind,  he  can  hardly  learn  it 

from  such  verses  as  — 

1  The  Countesse  of  Pembroke's  Arcadia,  1627,  p.  349. 
2J&id.,p.  64. 


202  THE   ELIZABETHAN   LYRIC  [chap. 

"If  mine  eyes  can  speake  to  doe  heartie  errand, 
Or  mine  eyes  language  she  doe  hap  to  judge  of, 
So  that  eyes  message  be  of  her  received, 
Hope  we  do  live  yet."  1 

A  verse  of  three  accents  is  introduced,  described 
as  "  Anacreon's  kind  of  verses."  It  is  simply  a 
combination  of  unrimed  trochees  with  anacrusis  :  — 

"  My  muse  what  ayles  this  ardour 
To  blaze  my  only  secrets  ? 
Alas  it  is  no  glory 
To  sing  mine  own  decaid  state,"  etc.2 

A  more  unusual  experiment  is  the  lyric  in  the 
measure  known  in  classical  prosody  as  the  Lesser 
Asclepiad,  denoted :  — 

>^w  //  w>^  wO 

Here  again  the  reader  must  have  the  rhythm  in 
mind,  in  order  to  find  it  in  such  lines  as  — 

"  0  sweet  woods  the  delight  of  solitarinesse  ! 

0  how  much  do  I  like  your  solitarinesse  ! 
"Where  mans  mind  hath  a  freed  consideration 
Of  goodnesse  to  receive  lovely  direction,  etc."  3 

Watson's  Hekatompathia  employed  a  variation  of 
the  sonnet-form  similar  to  that  already  noted  in  the 
Arcadia.  Watson  added  a  couplet  to  the  first  and 
second  quatrains,  so  that  they  corresponded  to  the 
sextet ;  the  whole  form  then  was  equivalent  to  three 
stanzas  rimed  ababcc :  — 

"  Ye  poets  have  done  well  in  times  long  past, 
To  gloze  on  trifling  toyes  of  little  price  ; 

1  The  Countess  of  Pembroke's  Arcadia,  p.  78. 

2  Ibid.,  p.  227.  3  Ibid.,  p.  229. 


ix.]  METRICAL   FORMS  293 

Why  should  not  I  presume  to  faine  as  fast, 
Espying  forth  a  ground  of  good  devise  ? 
A  Sacred  Nimph  is  ground  whereon  ile  write, 
The  fairest  Nymph  that  ever  yet  saw  light. 
And  since  her  song  hath  fild  my  eares  with  joye, 
Hir  vertues  pleased  my  minde,  hir  face  my  eye, 
I  dare  affirme  what  some  will  think  a  toy, 
She  Phoenix  is,  though  not  of  Arabie  ; 
And  yet  the  plumes  about  hir  neck  are  bright, 
And  Sol  himselfe  in  her  hath  chiefe  delight. 
You  that  will  know  why  Sol  afoordes  her  love, 
Seeke  but  the  cawse  why  Peakocks  draw  the  place, 
When  Juno  sitts  ;  why  Venus  likes  the  Dove  ; 
Or  why  the  Owle  befitts  Minervas  grace  ; 
Then  yf  you  grudge,  that  she  to  Sol  belonge, 
Marke  but  hir  face,  and  heare  hir  skill  in  songe."  * 

Numerous  attempts  were  made  in  this  period  to 

adapt  alexandrine  verses  to  the  sonnet-form.     As  a 

rule,  they  were  not  successful.     The  alexandrine 

breaks   too   easily   into   equal   parts,  and   a  fixed 

cesura  is  fatal  to  the  already  limited  effects  which 

can  be  obtained  from  the  sonnet.    The  most  famous 

example   is   the   opening   sonnet  of  Astrophel  and 

Stella :  — 

"  Loving  in  truth,  and  fain  in  verse  my  love  to  show, 
That  she,  dear  she  !  might  take  some  pleasure  of  my  pain  ; 
Pleasure  might  cause  her  read,  reading  might  make  her  know, 
Knowledge  might  pity  win,  and  pity  grace  obtain : 
I  sought  fit  words  to  paint  the  blackest  face  of  woe, 
Studying  inventions  fine,  her  wits  to  entertain  ; 
Oft  turning  others'  leaves,  to  see  if  thence  would  flow 
Some  fresh  and  fruitful  showers  upon  my  sun-burnt  brain  ; 
But  words  came  halting  forth,  wanting  Invention's  stay. 
Invention,  Nature's  child,  fled  step-dame  Study's  blows  ; 

1  Arber's  Reprint,  p.  53. 


294  THE   ELIZABETHAN  LYRIC  [chap. 

And  others'  feet  still  seemed  but  strangers  in  my  way, 
Thus  great  with  child  to  speak,  and  helpless  in  my  throes  ; 
Biting  my  trewand  pen,  beating  myself  for  spite  ; 
'  Eool ! '  said  my  Muse  to  me,  'look  in  thy  heart  and  write ! '  "  1 

Barnes  uses  a  sonnet  of  fifteen  lines.  The  octave 
is  regular,  but  instead  of  a  sextet  he  substitutes 
the  rime-royal :  — 

"  It  chaunced  after,  that  an  youthful  squier, 
Such  as  in  courting,  could  the  crafty  guise, 
Beheld  light  Laya,  shee  with  fresh  desier, 
Hoping  th'  achievement  of  some  richer  prize  ; 
Drew  to  the  Courtier,  who  with  tender  kisse, 
(As  are  their  guileful  fashions  which  dissemble) 
Eirst  him  saluted,  then  with  forged  blisse 
Of  doubtlesse  hope,  sweete  wordes  by  pause  did  tremble. 
So  whiles  shee  sleightly  gloased,  with  her  new  pray, 
Mine  hartes  eye  tending  his  false  mistresse  traine  ; 
Unyoak't  himselfe,  and  closely  scaped  away, 
And  to  Parthenope  did  poast  amaine 
For  liberal  pardon,  which  she  did  obtaine  ; 
And  judge  (Parthenope)  for  thou  canst  tell, 
That  his  escape  from  Laya,  pleased  me  well."  2 

The  sonnet-form  of  Spenser  is  probably  imitated 
from  Clement  Marot.  Marot  has  a  form  similar  to 
the  terza-rima  in  being  capable  of  indefinite  exten- 
sion. The  rime-scheme  is  abdb,  bcbc,  cdcd,  dede, 
etc.  Spenser  uses  three  quatrains  thus  bound 
together  with  a  concluding  couplet :  — 

"  One  day  I  wrote  her  name  upon  the  strand  ; 
But  came  the  waves,  and  washed  it  away  ; 
Agayne,  I  wrote  it  with  a  second  hand  ; 
But  came  the  tyde,  and  made  my  paynes  his  pray. 

1  Arber's  English  Garner,  i.  p.  503. 

2  Grosart's  Occasional  Issues,  1875,  i.  p.  3. 


a.]  METRICAL   FORMS  295 

Vayne  man,  sayd  she,  that  doest  in  vaine  assay 
A  mortall  thing  so  to  immortalize  ; 
For  I  myselve  shall  lyke  to  this  decay, 
And  eek  my  name  be  wyped  out  lykewize. 
Not  so,  quod  I  ;  let  baser  things  devize 
To  dy  in  dust,  but  you  shall  live  by  fame  ; 
My  verse  your  vertues  rare  shall  eternize, 
And  in  the  hevens  write  your  glorious  name. 
Where,  whenas  death  shall  all  the  world  subdew, 
Our  love  shall  live,  and  later  life  renew."  : 

Barnes  introduced  the  canzone  into  English  lit- 
erature in  Parthenopliil  and  Partltenophe.  The 
stanza  of  this  form  is  divided  into  two  parts,  the 
fronte  and  the  sirima.  These  may  be  bound  to- 
gether by  one  or  more  free  lines,  called  concatenazi- 
one.  The  fronte  in  turn  may  be  divided  into  two 
equal  parts,  called  piede,  and  the  sirima  into  two 
equal  parts  called  volte.  The  whole  poem  is  fol- 
lowed by  an  envoy,  called  the  commiato,  which  in 
the  strict  Italian  form  takes  the  rime-scheme  of 
the  sirima. 

The  stanza  of  Barnes's  first  canzon  would  be 
denoted,  first  piede,  abbe ;  second  piede,  baac ; 
concatenazione,  cd;  first  volta,  dee;  second  volta, 
dff:  — 

"  All  bewties  farre  perfections  rest  in  thee, 
And  sweetest  grace  of  graces, 
Deckes  thy  face  bove  faces  ; 
All  vertue  takes  her  glorie  from  thy  minde  ; 
The  muses  in  thy  wittes  have  their  places, 
And  in  thy  thoughts  all  mercies  bee  ; 
Thine  hart  from  all  hardnesse  free  ; 

1  Works,  p.  584. 


296  THE   ELIZABETHAN   LYRIC       [chap.  ix. 

An  holy  place  in  thy  thoughts  holinesse  doth  finde  ; 
In  favorable  speech  kinde  ; 

A  sacred  tongue  and  eloquent ; 

Action  sweet  and  excellent ; 
Musique  itself  in  joyntes  of  her  fair  fingers  is  ; 

She  chauntresse  of  singers  is  ; 
Her  plighted  faith  is  firme  and  permanent. 
O  now,  now,  helpe,  wilt  thou  take  some  compassion  ? 
She  thinks  I  flatter,  writing  on  this  fashion."  * 

The  commiato  is  irregular,  having  a  rime-scheme 
of  its  own,  abbcc :  — 

"Then  do  no  longer  despise, 
But  with  kinde  pitie  relent  thee, 

Cease  to  vexe,  and  torment  mee, 
If  shame's  feare  move  not,  which  all  discovers, 

Feare  plague  of  remorseless  lovers."2 

1  Grosart,  Occasional  Issues,  i.  p.  96.  2  Ibid.,  p.  100. 


CHAPTER  X 

CONCLUSION 

We  have  found  that  the  Elizabethan  lyric,  ex- 
clusive of  the  songs  in  the  drama,  is  divided,  by  the 
conditions  of  its  development,  into  two  periods. 
The  first,  the  pastoral  period,  extending  nearly  to 
the  end  of  the  sixteenth  century,  and  exercising 
influence  in  the  seventeenth,  includes  the  body  of 
lyrics  which  incline  to  be  pastoral  in  subject  and 
idyllic  in  method.  The  second,  the  period  best 
illustrated  by  the  song-books,  contains  the  mass  of 
Elizabethan  short  songs,  not  generally  pastoral  in 
subject,  and  epigrammatic,  rather  than  idyllic,  in 
manner. 

The  first  is  the  true  Elizabethan  period.  Cover- 
ing the  largest  part  of  Elizabeth's  reign,  it  in- 
cluded not  only  the  work  of  that  group  of  poets 
who  made  illustrious  her  court,  but  the  work  of  the 
university  wits  also,  and  of  all  those  who,  through 
any  channel  of  culture,  were  earliest  touched  by 
foreign  ideals  of  romance  and  chivalry.  It  was  the 
time  of  expansion  for  the  lyrical  as  well  as  for  the 
national  genius  of  England,  and  the  Continent  paid 
297 


298  THE   ELIZABETHAN   LYRIC  [chap. 

tribute  to  both.  The  last  surge  of  the  Renascence 
brought  into  English  literature  the  method  of  the 
idyl,  and  the  mood  of  the  pastoral  —  the  former  a 
consequence  of  the  Renascence  thirst  for  beauty, 
satisfied  more  fully  in  other  lands  by  the  arts  of 
color  and  line,  but  in  England  only  by  word-paint- 
ing; the  latter  implicit  in  the  romancing  spirit  of 
the  age,  which  at  almost  the  same  moment  had 
recovered  the  broad  horizons  of  the  older  litera- 
tures, and  discovered  the  new  Hesperides  over- 
seas. 

This  pastoral  period  might  find  its  typical  poet 
either  in  Sidney  or  in  Greene  or  in  Lodge,  or,  above 
all,  in  Spenser.  His  serious  and  lofty  spirit  rep- 
resents the  age  with  most  dignity,  and  his  genius 
was  perfectly  fitted  to  its  moods  and  methods. 
His  lyrics,  typical  in  this  respect  of  the  whole 
period,  are  long,  and  tend  to  break  into  fragments. 
It  is  only  within  the  limits  of  each  fragment  that 
Spenser  achieves  lyric  unity,  and  the  lyric  unit  is 
frequently  indistinguishable  from  the  single  pic- 
ture of  a  highly  wrought  idyl.  In  his  lyrics  as 
well  as  in  his  epic,  Spenser,  more  than  any  other 
Elizabethan,  is  the  poet  of  those  who  admire  in 
poetry  the  methods  of  painting. 

Perhaps  as  a  result  of  such  methods,  Spenser's 
lyrics  are  all  art-lyrics;  they  need  no  musical 
accompaniment,  and  suggest  none.  In  this  connec- 
tion it  is  instructive  to  reflect  how  swiftly,  — 
almost  within  the  period  of  this  study, — the  arts 


x.]  CONCLUSION  299 

of  music  and  poetry  become  dissociated  in  the 
lyric.  In  the  manuscript  collections  of  Henry 
VIII's  time,  the  words  and  music  of  the  practical 
song  supply  no  more  than  their  share  of  the  total 
effect,  and  the  words  are  im  melodious.  With 
Wyatt  and  Surrey,  in  spite  of  their  nearness  to 
English  practical  song,  the  lyric  becomes  frankly 
literary,  and  takes  to  itself  the  verbal  quality  of 
music.  A  parallel  is  found  in  their  master,  Pe- 
trarch, who,  though  close  to  the  practical  song  of 
Northern  Italy  and  Provence,  exercised  his  genius 
only  in  the  literary  lyric.  In  Spenser,  a  final  stage 
of  the  development  is  reached  ;  in  his  lyrics  there 
is  not  even,  as  in  Wyatt  and  Petrarch,  the  memory 
nor  the  suggestion  of  an  original  accompaniment  of 
music. 

This  first  Elizabethan  period  is  marked  by  a 
sombre  mood.  The  best  known  of  its  lyrics,  such 
as  are  made  familiar  by  the  anthologies,  give  in- 
deed a  different  impression ;  but  if  the  production 
of  the  period  be  taken  as  a  whole,  the  themes  are 
found  to  be  no  less  serious  than  those  of  the 
Middle  English  lyric.  Themes  like  the  fickleness 
of  fortune,  the  vanity  of  human  ambition,  the  bless- 
edness of  a  quiet  life,  as  clearly  expressed  in  the 
miscellanies  as  in  the  Mirror  for  Magistrates,  had  no 
doubt  a  more  than  conventional  meaning  after  the 
meteoric  rise  and  fall  of  great  men  under  Henry, 
Mary,  and  Elizabeth.  These  serious  motives  lose 
their  force  with  time ;    to  us  they  seem  less  real 


300  THE   ELIZABETHAN   LYRIC  [chap. 

than  the  slighter  themes  of  courtly  love,  which 
survive  to  give  us,  perhaps  a  mistaken  impression 
of  the  total  lyric  activity  of  the  period. 

At  the  other  end  of  the  Elizabethan  age,  in  direct 
contrast  to  the  pastoral  lyric,  the  practical  song  is 
revived  in  the  song-books.  Though  the  shortest 
and  least  characteristic  period,  it  is  to  general 
readers  the  best  known,  Campion's  songs  rather 
than  Spenser's  or  Sidney's  being  usually  taken  as 
the  type  of  Elizabethan  lyric.  Just  as  the  pastoral 
lyric  made  its  appeal  through  word-painting,  so 
these  later  songs  make  their  appeal  through  word- 
music  ;  and  this  quality  has  led  to  the  serious  mis- 
apprehension that  here  the  musical  accompaniment 
makes  itself  felt.  No  historian  of  literature  who 
had  seen  or  heard  the  music  in  question,  could 
credit  it  with  such  influence.  The  madrigals  and 
the  airs  did  indeed  influence  the  form  of  the  lyric, 
since  they  determined  its  length ;  but  music  at  this 
time  had  not  yet  acquired  those  qualities  which  it 
is  supposed  to  have  conferred  upon  poetry. 

The  contents  of  the  song-books,  though  practical 
songs,  should  be  distinguished  in  one  respect  from 
the  contents  of  the  first  manuscript  miscellanies. 
If  we  subtract  the  number  of  poems  by  Dyer,  Gre- 
ville,  and  others,  which  were  adapted  to  the  uses  of 
the  madrigal  writers,  and  then  subtract  the  transla- 
tions and  adaptations  from  Italian  poetry,  there 
remains  but  a  modest  proportion  of  these  songs 
which  were  originally  written  for  music.      Most  of 


x.]  CONCLUSION  301 

them  were  written  simply  as  poetry,  intended  to 
appeal  through  that  art  alone.  Campion,  indeed, 
was  both  musician  and  poet,  but  he  follows  the 
traditions  of  poetry  far  more  closely  than  those  of 
music.  He  writes  with  Sidney  and  Spenser  for  his 
predecessors,  and  inherits  their  music  in  his  verse. 

The  theory  that  music  and  poetry  separate  where 
poetry  becomes  musical,  is  illustrated  by  the  fate 
of  the  manuscript  collections  of  Henry  VIII,  and  of 
the  song-books.  Until  a  few  years  ago,  they  were 
equally  accessible.  In  the  former,  the  words  and  the 
music  were  necessary  to  each  other,  so  that  when 
the  music  went  out  of  fashion,  the  words  were  for- 
gotten. In  the  latter  also,  the  music  became  obso- 
lete, but  the  words,  complete  in  their  own  art, 
survive  as  poetry. 

The  form  of  these  songs  is  significant  for  two 
reasons.  In  the  first  place,  its  comparative  short- 
ness was  conducive  to  lyric  unity  —  a  formal  success 
quite  impossible  to  the  idyllic  lyrists.  Campion's 
songs  have  the  single  stimulus,  development,  and 
cadence,  of  what  we  have  called  ideal  lyric  form. 
In  the  second  place,  the  tradition  of  these  short, 
single  flights  is  taken  up  by  Herrick,  and  through 
his  use  becomes  for  English  literature  in  our  gener- 
ation the  most  accredited  model  of  the  literary  song. 
It  is  perhaps  in  vague  imitation  of  Herrick  that 
there  has  grown  up  a  type  of  pseudo-Elizabethan 
lyric,  light  in  subject,  dainty  and  musical  in  man- 
ner, and  sentimental  in  mood.     The  makers  of  such 


302  THE   ELIZABETHAN   LYRIC  [chaf. 

verses,  of  whom  Mr.  Austin  Dobson  is  at  times  an 
example,  are  frequently  called  by  the  thoughtless 
reviewer,  "  stray  Elizabethans." 

Between  these  two  periods,  dominated  by  the 
idyllic  art-song,  and  by  the  song-books,  sonnet- 
writing  should  be  considered  as  a  transition.  Con- 
sidered as  series,  there  is  little  difference  between 
the  early  sequences  and  the  idyllic  lyric.  We 
found  the  Amoretti,  for  example,  to  resemble  in 
structure  the  Epithalamium  —  the  sonnet  serving 
as  the  lyric  unit  in  the  one  case,  the  stanza  in  the 
other.  But  when  the  sonnet  was  written  as  a  sin- 
gle poem,  it  became  the  predecessor  of  the  short 
lyric  forms  of  the  song-books.  This  change  of  char- 
acter, from  sonnets  as  a  sequence  to  sonnets  as  a 
collection,  is  traceable  in  the  sonnet  period  itself, 
from  1590  to  1600.  The  first  sequences,  like  As- 
trophel  and  Stella,  have  a  definite  narrative  organ- 
ism. In  Parthe  nopliil  and  Parthenophe,  however, 
the  structure  is  loose.  Its  sonnets  are  not  organi- 
cally related;  though  grouped  under  one  general 
subject,  they  are  in  nature  occasional.  This  method 
of  sonnet-collecting  branches  out  toward  the  end  of 
the  period  into  other  forms  of  lyric;  in  the  art- 
lyric  the  best  example  is  Astrcea,  and  in  the  song- 
books,  the  Triumphs  ofOriana. 

Parallel  with  this  more  or  less  literary  develop- 
ment of  the  Elizabethan  lyric,  though  not  affected 
by  it,  is  the  song  in  the  drama.  This,  for  obvious 
reasons,  is  always   a   practical   song,  and   always 


x.]  CONCLUSION  30o 

English  in  sentiment  and  in  manner.  The  only 
"  literary "  affectation  in  the  species  was  the 
academic  chorus  after  the  classic  model,  which 
never  took  hold  of  the  Elizabethan  stage. 

The  exigencies  of  stage  presentation  demanded 
that  the  drama-songs  be  short.  On  the  whole,  they 
are  shorter  than  any  other  lyrics  except  the  epi- 
grammatic madrigals ;  but  however  short,  they 
are  never  epigrammatic.  They  give  the  impression 
rather  of  spontaneous,  incomplete  snatches  of  song, 
breaking  through  the  restraint  of  the  drama,  and 
silenced  again  by  the  impatient  action.  The  music 
to  which  these  lyrics  were  sung,  was  equally  swift 
and  simple.  There  was  no  time  for  elaborate  mad- 
rigal music,  even  if  the  audience  could  have  appre- 
ciated it. 

So  much  for  an  outline  of  the  forms  in  which  the 
most  charming  "  lyric  cry  "  of  our  race  was  uttered. 
But  the  secret  of  the  charm,  more  highly  prized 
to-day  than  ever  before,  has  not  yet  fallen  into  the 
hands  of  criticism.  May  it  still  remain  a  delightful 
mystery ! 


APPENDIX 

A   CHRONOLOGY  OF  THE  ELIZABETHAN 
LYRIC 

Most  of  these  dates  follow  those  given  in  the  modern  editions 
in  which  the  entries  are  accessible.  The  editions  will  be  found 
in  the  Bibliography.  Where  there  is  a  unique  copy,  not  accessi- 
ble to  the  author,  or  where  no  copy  is  known,  the  Dictionary  of 
National  Biography  is  followed. 

With  the  exception  of  several  song-books,  and  two  or  three 
other  entries,  these  publications  may  all  be  consulted  in  reliable 
editions  or  reprints. 

1557.     Tottel's  Miscellany. 

1560.     Gorboduc. 

1563.     Googe,  Barnaby.     Eglogs,  Epytaphes  and  Sonettes. 

1566.  Gascoigne,  George.     The  Supposes. 
Gammer  Gurton's  Needle. 

1567.  Gascoigne,  George.     Jocasla. 

Howell,  Thomas.     Neive  Sonets  and  Prelie  Pam- 
phlets. 

1568.  Howell,  Thomas.     Arbor  of  Amide. 

1570.     Turberville,  George.     Epitaphs,  Epigrams,  Songs 

and  Sonets. 
1572.     Gascoigne,  George.     A  Hundreth  Sundrie  Flowers. 

1575.  Churchyard,  Thomas.     Chips. 
Gascoigne,  George.     Posies. 

1576.  Paradise  of  Dainty  Devices. 

1577.  Breton,  Nicholas.     Flourish  upon  Fancie. 

1578.  Gorgeous  Gallery  of  Gallant  Inventions. 
Whetstone,  George.     Promos  and  Cassandra. 

1579.  Spenser,  Edmund.      The  Shcpheards  Calender. 

1580.  Gilford,  Humphrey.     A  Posie  of  Gillqflowers. 

1581.  Howell,  Thomas.     //.  His  Devices. 

1582.  Watson,  Thomas.     Helatompathia. 

x  305 


306  THE   ELIZABETHAN   LYRIC 

1584.     Greene,  Robert.     Arbasto. 

Handful  of  Pleasant  Delights. 

Lyly,  John.     A  lexander  and  Campaspe. 

Sappho  and  Phao. 
Peele,  George.     Arraignment  of  Paris. 

1586.  Tychborne,  Cliidick.     Verses  of  Praise  and  Joy 

1587.  Greene,  Robert.     Penelope's  Web. 
Grove,  Matthew.     Pelops  and  Hippodamia. 
Misfortunes  of  Arthur. 

Webbe,  William.     Discourse  of  English  Poetrle. 

1588.  Byrd,  William.     Psalmes,  Sonnets  and  Songs  of 

Sadness  arid  Pietie. 
Greene,  Robert.     Pandosto. 

Perimedes  the  Blacksmith. 
Younge,  Nicholas.     Musica  Transalpine.     Part  I. 

1589.  Byrd,  William.     Songs  of  Sundrie  Natures. 
Greene,  Robert.     Menaphon. 

Lodge,  Thomas.     A  Margarite  of  America. 

Scylla's  Metamorphosis. 
Puttenham,  George.     Arte  of  English  Poesie. 

1590.  Dekker,  Thomas.     Old  Fortunatus. 
Greene,  Robert.     Francesco's  Fortunes. 

The  Mourning  Garment. 
Never  Too  Late. 
Lodge,  Thomas.     Rosalind. 
Peele,  George.     Polyhymnia. 
Sidney,  Sir  Philip.     Arcadia. 
Watson,  Thomas.     Italian  Madrigals  Englished. 
Elegy  upon  Sir  Francis  Wal- 
singham. 

1591.  Constable,  Henry.     Spiritual  Sonnettes. 
Drayton,  Michael.     Harmony  of  the  Church. 
Greene,  Robert.     Farewell  to  Folly. 

Lyly,  John.     Endymion. 

Shakspere,  William.     Love's  Labour's  Lost. 

Two  Gentlemen  of  Verona. 


CHRONOLOGY  307 

1591.  Sidney,  Sir  Philip.     Astrophel  and  Stella. 
Spenser,  Edmund.     Complaints. 

Daphnaida. 

1592.  Constable,  Henry.     Diana. 
Daniel,  Samuel.     Delia. 
Greene,  Robert.     Philomela. 

Harvey,  Gabriel.    Four  Letters  and  Certain  Sonnets. 

Lyly,  John.     Midas. 

Shakspere,  William.     Romeo  and  Juliet. 

1593.  Barnes,  Barnabe.     Parthenophil  and  Partkenophe. 
Breton,  Nicholas.     Arbour  of  Amorous  Devices. 
Drayton,  Michael.     Shepheard's  Garland. 
Fletcher,  Giles.     Licia. 

Lodge,  Thomas.     Phillis. 

Morley,  Thomas.     Canzonets  or  Little  Short  Songs. 

The  Phoenix  Nest. 

Watson,  Thomas.     Teares  of  Fancie. 

1594.  Dickenson,  John.     The  Shepheardes  Complaint. 
Drayton,  Michael.     Idea. 

Lyly,  John.     Mother  Bombie. 

Morley,  Thomas.     Madrigals  to  Four  Voices. 

Munday,  John.     Songs  and  Psalmes. 

Percy,  William.     Codia. 

Shakspere,  William.     Merchant  of  Venice. 

Willoughby,  Henry.     Willobie  His  Avisa. 

Zepheria. 

1595.  Alcilia :     Philoparthen's  Loving  Follie. 

Barnes,    Barnabe.      Divine    Centurie  of  Spirituel 

Sonnets. 
Barnfield,  Richard.  Ganymede. 
Chettle,   Henry.      Piers    Plainness   Seven    Years' 

Prenticeship. 
Davies,  Sir  John.     Gidling  Sonnets. 
"  E.  C."     Emaricdulfe. 
Morley,  Thomas.     Balletts  to  Five  Voices. 
Canzonets  to  Two  Voices. 


308  THE   ELIZABETHAN   LYRIC 

1595.  Peele,  George.     The  Old  Wives'  Tale. 
Shakspere,  William.     Midsummer  Night's  Dream. 

All's  Well  That  Ends  Well. 
Sidney,  Sir  Philip.     Apologie  for  Poetrie. 
Southwell,  Robert.     St.  Peter's  Complaint. 
Spenser,  Edmund.     Amoretti. 

Epithalamium. 
Spenser  and  others.     Astrophel. 

1596.  Campion,  Thomas.     Three  Sonnets. 
Colse,  Peter.     Penelope's  Complaint. 
Fitz-Geoffrey,  Charles.     Francis  Drake. 
Griffin,  Bartholomew.     Fidessa. 
Linche,  Richard.     Diella. 

Smith,  William.     Chloris. 
Spenser,  Edmund.     Fowre  Hymnes. 
Protlialamion. 

1597.  Dow  land,  John.     First  Book  of  Songs  or  A  irs. 
Hall,  Jos.     Virgidemiarum.     Books  i.,  ii.,  iii. 
Kirbye,  George.     Madrigals  for  Four,   Five,  and 

Six  Voices. 
Lok,  Henry.      Sundrie   Sonets  of  Christian  Pas- 
sions. 
Morley,  Thomas.     Canzonets  or  Little  Short  Airs. 
Canzonets  or  Little  Short  Songs, 
out  of  the  Best  and  Approved 
Italian  Authors. 
Munday,  Anthony.     Downfall  of  Robert,  Earl  of 

Huntingdon. 
Tofte,  Robert.     Laura. 
Weelkes,  Thomas.    Madrigals  to  Three,  Four,  Five, 

or  Six  Voices. 
Younge,  Nicholas.     Musica  Transalpina,  Part  II. 

1598.  Barnfield,  Richard.     Complaint  of  Poetry. 

Encomium  of  Lady  Pecunia. 
Poems  in  Divers  Humours. 
Chapman,  George.     Hero  and  Leander. 


CHRONOLOGY  309 

1598.  Dickenson,  John.     Greene  in  Conceipt. 
Hall,  Jos.      Virgidemiarum.     Books  iv.,  v.,  vi. 
Morley,  Thomas.      Madrigals  to  Four  Voices,  Se- 
lected out  of  the  Best  Approved 
Italian  Authors. 

Munday  and  Chettle.     Death  of  Robert,  Earl  of 

Huntingdon. 
Rogers,  Thomas.     Sonnets  on  the  Death  of  Lady 
Frances,   Countess   of  Hert- 
ford. 
Tofte,  Robert.    Alba. 

Wilbye,  John.     Madrigals  to   Three,   Four,  Five, 
and  Six  Voices. 

1599.  Bennett,  John.     Madrigals  to  Four  Voices. 
Davies,  Sir  John.     Astrcea. 

Dekker,  Thomas.     Patient  Grissel. 

Shoemakers  Holiday. 
Essex,  Robert  Devereux,  Earl  of.     Certain  Verses. 
Farmer,  John.     Madrigals  to  Four  Voices. 
Passionate  Pilgrim. 
Shakspere,  William.     As  You  Like  It. 

Much  Ado  About  Nothing. 

1600.  Dowland,  John.     Second  Book  of  Songs  or  Airs. 
England's  Helicon. 

England's  Parnassus. 
Jonson,  Ben.     Cynthia's  Revels. 
Lodge,  Thomas.    Summer's  Last  Will  and  Testament. 
Markham,  Gervase.     Tears  of  the  Beloved. 
Shakspere,  William.     Tivelfth  Night. 
Thynne,  Francis.     Emblemes  and  Epigrammes. 
Weelkes,  Thomas.  Madrigals  of  Five  and  Six  Parts. 
Madrigals  of  Six  Parts. 

1601.  Chester,  Sir  Robert.      Love's  Martyr,  or  Rosalms 

Complaint. 
Jonson,  Ben.     Poetaster. 
Markham,  Gervase.     Mary  Magdalene's  Teares. 


310  THE   ELIZABETHAN  LYRIC 

1601.  Middleton,  Thomas.     Blurt,  Master  Constable. 
Morley,  Thomas.     Triumphs  of  Oriana. 

1602.  Breton,  Nicholas.     The  Soul's  Harmony. 
Campion,   Thomas.     Observations   in   the   Art   of 

English  Poesy. 
Davison's  Poetical  Rhapsody. 
Dekker,  Thomas.     The  Noble  Spanish  Soldier. 
Jonson,  Ben.     First  Book  of  Epigrams. 
Shakspere,  William.     Hamlet. 

1603.  Daniel,  Samuel.     Defense  of  Rime. 

Dowland,  John.     Third  and  Last  Book  of  Songs 
or  Airs. 

1604.  Alexander,  Sir  William.     Aurora. 

Bateson,    Thomas.     Madrigals  for    Three,   Four, 

Five,  and  Six  Voices. 
Este,  Michael.     Madrigals   of  Three,   Four,  and 

Five  Parts. 
Greaves.  Thomas.     Songs  of  Sundry  Kinds. 
Shakspere,  William.     Measure  for  Measure. 

1605.  Drayton,  Michael.     Poems,  Lyrick  and  Pastorall. 
Heywood,  Thomas.     The  Rapte  of  Lucrece. 
Jonson,  Ben.     The  Forest. 

1606.  Alison,  Richard.     Author's  Recreation  in  Music. 

1607.  Fair  Maid  of  The  Exchange. 

Ford,  Thomas.     Music  of  Sundrie  Kinds. 

1608.  Jones,  Robert.     Ullimum  Vale. 
Shakspere,  William.     Antony  and  Cleopatra. 
Webster,  John.     Viltoria  Cwombona. 
Weelkes,  Thomas.     Airs  and  Phantastic  Spirits. 
Youll,  Henry.     Canzonets  to  Three  Voices. 

1609.  Alison,  Richard.     Pammelia. 

Deuteromelia. 
Beaumont  and  Fletcher.     The  Maid's  Tragedy. 
Jonson,  Ben.     The  Masque  of  Queens. 

The  Silent  Woman. 
Shakspere,  William.     Sonnets. 


CHRONOLOGY  311 

1609.  Wilbye,  John.     Second  Set  of  Madrigals. 

1610.  Beaumont  and  Fletcher.     Knight  of  the  Burning 

Pestle. 
Daniel,  Samuel.     Tethys'  Festival. 
Jones,  Robert.     Muses'  Garden  of  Delight. 
Shakspere,  William.     Cymbeline. 

1611.  Alison,  Richard.     Melismata. 

Byrd,  William.     Psalms,  Songs,  and  Sonnets. 
Shakspere,  William.     The  Tempest. 

The  Winter's  Tale. 

1612.  Beaumont,  Francis.     Masque  of  the  Inner  Temple. 
Chapman,  George.     Epicedium. 

Hymn  to  Hymen. 
Fletcher,  John.  Tioo  Noble  Kinsmen. 
Gibbons,   Orlando.      First  Set  of  Madrigals  and 

Motets. 
Webster,  John.     Duchess  of  Malfi. 
Wit  Restored. 

1613.  Brooke,  Christopher.     Elegy  on  Prince  Henry. 
Browne,  William.     Britannia's  Pastorals,  Part  I. 

Two  Elegies  on  Prince  Henry. 
Daniel,  Samuel.     Hymen's  Triumph. 
Fletcher,  John.     The  Captain. 

The  Nice  Valour. 
Heywood,  Thomas.     Silver  Age. 
Ward,  John.     First  Set  of  English  Madrigals. 

1614.  Breton,  Nicholas.     /  Would  and  I  Would  Not. 
Browne,  William.     Inner  Temple  Masque. 

Shepherd's  Pipe. 
Pears,  Edward. 

Bennett,  John.  \  A  Brief  Discourse. 

Ravenscroft,  Thomas.  J 

1615.  Andrew's  Anatomie  of  Baseness. 
Wither,  George.      Fidelia. 

1616.  Browne,  William.    Britannia's  Pastorals,  Part  II. 
Drummond,  William.     Poems,  Part  I. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

In  the  first  section  will  be  found  the  sources  of  the  Anglo- 
Saxon  and  Middle  English  lyrics,  referred  to  in  Chapter  II.  In 
the  second  section  will  be  found  the  sources  of  all  the  Eliza- 
bethan Lyrics  which  are  generally  accessible.  The  third  section 
contains  a  short  list  of  critical  or  other  works,  which  have  been 
useful  in  this  study.  In  all  cases,  the  date  given  is  of  the 
edition  used. 

The  alphabetical  order  is  determined  by  the  author's  name, 
where  that  is  known ;  otherwise  by  the  title. 


Anglo-Saxon  and  Early  English  Psalter.     Printed  for  the 

Surtees  Society.     2  vols.     London,  1847. 
Anglo-Saxon    Chronicle.     See    below,    Two   Anglo-Saxon 

Chronicles  Parallel. 
Anglo-Saxon  Poetry.     See   below,    Bibliothek   der  Angel- 

sachsischen   Poesie;    also    Codex  Exoniensis;   also 

Select  Translations  from  Old  English  Poetry. 
Bibliothek  der  Angelsdchsischen  Poesie.     Ed.  by  C.  W.  M. 

Grein,  and  R.  P.  Wiilker.     Leipzig,  1894. 
Brakelmann,  Jules.      Les  plus  ancien  chansonniers  fran- 

cais,  in  Ausgahen  und  Ahhandlungen  cms  dem  Gebiete 

der  Romanischen  Philologie,  xciv.     Marburg,  1891. 

(Contains  the  sirventes  of  Richard  I.) 
Chaucer,  Geoffrey.      Works.     Ed.  by  W.  W.  Skeat.    1  vol. 

Oxford,  1892. 
Clene  Maydenhod.     Ed.  by  F.  J.  Furnivall,  in  the  Early 

English  Text  Society  Publications,  xxv.      London, 

1867. 
Codex  Exoniensis.     Ed.  by  Benjamin  Thorpe.     London, 

1842. 

313 


314  THE   ELIZABETHAN   LYRIC 

Gower,  John.  Works.  Ed.  by  G.  C.  Macaulay.  4  vols. 
Oxford.  1899-1902. 

Guest,  Edwin.  History  of  English  Rhythms.  Ed.  by 
W.  W.  Skeat.     London,  1882. 

Hawes,  Stephen.  Pastime  of  Pleasure.  Printed  for  the 
Percy  Society  Publications,  xviii.     1846. 

Hymns  to  the  Virgin  and  Christ.  Ed.  by  F.  J.  Furnivall, 
for  the  Early  English  Text  Society  Publications, 
xxiv.     1867. 

Jones,  Edward.     Bardic  Museum.     London,  1802. 

Lydgate,  John.  Minor  Poems.  Ed.  by  J.  O.  Halliwell, 
for  the  Percy  Society  Publications,  ii.     1840. 

Medieval  Scottish  Poetry.  Ed.  by  George  Eyre-Todd. 
Glasgow,  1892. 

Minor  Poems  of  the  Vernon  MS.  Part  i.  Ed.  by 
Carl  Horstmann  and  F.  J.  Furnivall,  for  the 
Early  English  Text  Society  Publications,  xcviii. 
1892. 

Minot,  Lawrence.  Poems.  Ed.  by  Joseph  Hall.  Ox- 
ford, 1887. 

Occleve  (or  Hoccleve),  Thomas.  Minor  Poems.  Ed.  by 
F.  J.  Furnivall,  for  the  Early  English  Text  Society 
Publications,  extra  series,  xli.     1872. 

Old  English  Homilies.     First  Series.     Ed.  by  R.  Morris, 
for  the  Early  English    Text    Society  Publications, 
xxix.  and  xxxiv.     1868. 
Second  Series.     Ed.  by  R.  Morris,  for  the  Early  Eng- 
lish Text  Society  Publications,  xliii.     1873. 

Old  English  Miscellany.  Ed.  by  R.  Morris,  for  the  Early 
English  Text  Society  Publications,  xlix.     1872. 

Pearl,  The.     Ed.  by  I.  Gollancz.     London,  1891. 

Ed.   by  R.  Morris,  in  the  Early  English   Text 

Society  Publications,  i.     1864. 

Political,  Religious,  and  Love  Poems.  Ed.  by  F.  J.  Furni- 
vall, for  the  Early  English  Text  Society  Publications, 
xv.     1866. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  315 

Religious  Pieces.     Ed.  by  George  G.  Perry,  for  the  Early 

English  Text  Society  Publications,  xxvi.     1867. 
Select  Translations  from  Old  English  Poetry.     Ed.  by  Al- 
bert S.  Cook  and  Chauncey  B.  Tinker.     Boston, 

1902. 
Skelton,  John.     Poems.    Ed.  by  Alexander  Dyce.    2  vols. 

London,  1843. 
Songs  and   Carols.     Ed.  by  T.  Wright,  for  the  Warton 

Club  Publications,  iv.     1856. 
Songs  and  Carols  of  the  15th  Century.     Ed.  by  T.  Wright, 

for  the  Percy  Society  Publications,  xxiii.     1847. 
Songs  and  Poems  on  Costume.     Ed.  by  F.  W.  Fairholt,  for 

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Plummer  and  John  Earle.     2  vols.     Oxford,  1892. 

II 

Alcilia :    Philoparthen's    Loving   Follie.      Ed.   by   A.   B. 

Grosart,  in  his    Occasional  Issues,  viii.     London, 

1879. 
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for  the  Fuller  Worthies  Library.     London,  1871. 
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Occasional  Issues,  i.     London,  1875. 
Barnfield,  Richard.     Complaint,  of  Poetry,  Encomium  of 

Lady  Pecunia,  and  Poems  in  Divers  Humours.    Ed. 

by  J.  P.  Collier,  in  Illustrations  of  Old   English 

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316  THE   ELIZABETHAN  LYRIC 

Bateson,  T.  First  Set  of  Madrigals.  Scored  from  the 
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Beaumont,  Francis,  and  John  Fletcher.  Works.  Ed.  by 
George  Darley.     London,  1851. 

Bennett,  J.  Madrigals  for  Four  Voices.  Ed.  by  E.  J. 
Hopkins.     London,  1844-1845. 

Breton,  Nicholas.  Works.  Ed.  by  A.  B.  Grosart.  2  vols. 
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Brooke,  Fulke  Greville,  Lord.      Ccelica.     Ed.  by  Martha 
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don, 1898. 
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printed,  1879. 

Browne,  "William.  Poems.  Ed.  by  Gordon  Goodwin. 
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Campion,  Thomas.  Works.  Ed.  by  A.  H.  Bullen.  Lon- 
don, 1889. 
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English  Poesy.  Ed.  by  A.  H.  Bullen,  with  a  short 
introduction  by  Janet  Dodge,  on  Campion's  Music. 
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Haslewood,  in  Ancient  Critical  Essays.  See  below, 
Section  III. 

Chapman,  George.     Works.     London,  1875. 

Chappell,  William.  An  account  of  an  unpublished  collec- 
tion of  Songs  and  Ballads  by  Henry  VIII  and  his 
contemporaries.  Together  with  facsimiles  of  some 
of  the  music.  Printed  in  Archozologia,  xli.,  part  ii., 
page  371  sq. 

Chester,  Sir  Robert.  Love's  Martyr,  or  Rosalin's  Com- 
plaint. Ed.  by  A.  B.  Grosart,  in  his  Occasional 
Issues,  vii.     1878. 


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Churchyard,  Thomas.  Chips.  Ed.  by  J.  P.  Collier.  Lon- 
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Collection  of  Christmas  Carols,  with  Tunes,  A.  Ed.  by  E. 
F.  Rimbaulfc.     London,  18 — . 

Collection  of  National  English  Airs,  consisting  of  Ancient 
Song,  Ballad,  and  Dance  Tunes.  Ed.  by  William 
Chappell.     2  vols.     London,  1838. 

Colse,  Peter.  Penelope's  Complaint.  Ed.  by  A.  B.  Gros- 
art,  in  his  Occasional  Issues,  xii.     1880. 

Constable,  Henry.     Sonnets  and  other  Poems.     Ed.  by  W. 
C.  Hazlitt.     London,  1859. 
Poems  and  Sonnets.  Ed.  by  John  Gray.  London,  1897. 

Coventry  Mysteries.  (With  reprints  of  the  original  mu- 
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Crown  Garland  of  Golden  Roses.  Ed.  by  William  Chap- 
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Daniel,   Samuel.     Delia.     Ed.   by   Martha   F.    Crow,  in 
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Davies,  Sir  John.    Complete  Poems.    Ed.  by  A.  B.  Grosart. 
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Dekker,  Thomas.  Dramatic  Works.  4  vols.  London,  1873. 
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Dickenson,  John.  Greene  in  Conceipt  new  raised  from  his 
grave  to  write  the  Tragique  Historie  of  Valeria  of 
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Digby  Plays,  The.  Ed.  by  F.  J.  Furnivall,  in  the  Early 
English  Text  Society  Publications,  extra  series,  lxx. 
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Dodsley's  Old  Plays.  Ed.  by  W.  C.  Hazlitt.  15  vols. 
London,  1874-1876. 


318  THE   ELIZABETHAN  LYRIC 

Donne,  John.  Poems.  Ed.  by  A.  B.  Grosart.  2  vols. 
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Drayton,   Michael.     Complete    Works.     Ed.  by   Richard 
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Idea.     Ed.  by  Martha  F.  Crow,  in  Elizabethan  Sonnet- 
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Poems.     Ed.  by  Oliver  Elton,  for  the  Spenser  Society 

Publications,  xliv.     Part  ii.    1888. 
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Dyer,  Sir  Edward.  Works.  Ed.  by  A.  B.  Grosart,  in  the 
Fuller  Worthies  Library,  1872. 

Edwards,  Richard.  Damon  and  Pythias.  Ed.  by  W.  C. 
Hazlitt,  in  Dodsley's  Old  Plays,  iv.    London,  1874. 

Elizabethan  Lyrics.  Ed.  by  F.  E.  Schelling.  Boston, 
1895. 

Elizabethan  Songs.  Ed.  by  E.  D.  Garrett,  with  an  Intro- 
duction by  Andrew  Lang.     Boston,  1894. 

Elizabethan  Sonnet-Cycles.  Ed.  by  Martha  F.  Crow.  4 
vols.     London,  1896-1898. 

Emaricdulfe.  Ed.  by  Charles  Edmunds,  in  A  Lamport 
Garland,  for  the  Roxburghe  Club,  1881. 

England's  Antiphon.  Ed.  by  George  MacDonald.  Lon- 
don, 1866. 

England's  Helicon.    Ed.  by  A.  H.  Bullen.    London,  1887. 

Ed.  by  J.  P.  Collier,  in  Seven  English  Poetical 

Miscellanies.     London,  1867. 

England's  Parnassus.  Ed.  by  J.  P.  Collier,  in  Seven 
English  Poetical  Miscellanies.     London,  1867. 

English  Garner,  An.  Ed.  by  Edward  Arber.  7  vols. 
Birmingham,  1877-1883. 

English  Lyric  Poetry  from  1500  to  1700.  Ed.  by  F.  I. 
Carpenter,  for  the  Warwick  Library.  London, 
1897. 

English  Madrigals  in  the  time  of  Shakspere.  Ed.  by  F. 
A.  Cox.     London,  1899. 


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English  Miracle  Plays.  Ed.  by  Alfred  W.  Pollard.  Ox- 
ford, 1890. 

Essex,  Robert,  Earl  of.  Poems.  Ed.  by  A.  B.  Grosart, 
in  the  Fuller  Worthies  Library,  1872. 

Essex,  Walter,  Earl  of.  Poems.  Ed.  by  A.  B.  Grosart, 
in  the  Fuller  Worthies  Library,  1872. 

Festive  songs  of  the  16th  and  17th  centuries.  Ed.  by  William 
Sandys,  in  the  Percy  Society  Publications,  xxiii. 
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Fitz-Geoffrey,  Charles.  Sir  Francis  Drake,  his  honorable 
life's  commendation,  and  his  Tragicall  Deathes  lamen- 
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Fletcher,  Giles  (the  elder).  Licia.  Ed.  by  A.  B.  Grosart, 
in  his  Occasional  Issues,  ii.     1876. 

Fletcher,  John.     See  above,  Beaumont  and  Fletcher. 

Gascoigne,  George.  Complete  Poems.  2  vols.  Ed.  by 
W.  C.  Hazlitt,  for  the  Roxburghe  Library,  1869. 
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Gibbons,  Orlando.  Madrigals  and  Motets.  Ed.  by  Sir 
George  Smart,  for  the  Musical  Antiquarian  Society. 
London,  1841. 

Gifford,  Humphrey.     Poems.     Ed.  by  A.  B.  Grosart,  for 
the  Fidler  Worthies  Library,  1870. 
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Occasional  Issues,  i.     1875. 

Golden  Treasury  of  the  Best  Songs  and  Lyrical  Poems  in  the 
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Googe,  Barnaby.  Eglogs,  Epytaphes  and  Sonettes.  Ed. 
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Gorboduc.  Ed.  by  W.  C.  Hazlitt,  in  Dodsley's  Old  Plays, 
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Gorgeous  Gallery  of  Gallant  Inventions.  Ed.  by  J.  P. 
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324  THE   ELIZABETHAN   LYRIC 

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Treasury  of  English  Sonnets.  Ed.  by  David  M.  Main. 
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Triumphs  of  Oriana,  a  collection  of  madrigals  for  five  and 
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Turberville,  George,  Epitaphs,  Epigrams,  Songs  and  Son- 
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Udall,  Nicholas.  Ralph  Roister  Doister.  Ed.  by  Edward 
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Fliigel,  in  Representative  English  Comedies.  See 
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Vaux,  Thomas,  Lord.  Poems.  Ed.  by  A.  B.  Grosart,  in 
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Vocal  Poetry.  A  select  collection  of  English  songs.  By 
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Warton,  Thomas.  History  of  English  Poetry.  4  vols. 
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Watson,  Thomas.  Poems.  Ed.  by  Edward  Arber.  Lon- 
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Webbe,  William.  Discourse  of  English  Poetrie.  Ed.  by 
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Weelkes,  Thomas.  First  Set  of  Madrigals.  Scored  from 
the  original  part-books,  printed  1597,  by  E.  J. 
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Willoughby,  Henry.  Willobie  His  Avisa.  Ed.  by  A.  B. 
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Aiken,  John.  An  Essay  on  Song-writing.  Prefixed  to 
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Ancient  Critical  Essays.  Ed.  by  Joseph  Haslewood.  Lon- 
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Aristotle.  Poetics.  Ed.  and  translated  by  S.  H.  Butcher. 
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Barrett,  William  Alexander.  English  Glee  and  Madrigal 
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Brooke,  Stopford  A.  History  of  English  Literature.  Lon- 
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Brunetiere,  Ferdinand.  Victor  Hugo.  An  essay  in  the 
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Brydges,  Sir  Edgerton.  Censura  Literaria.  Containing 
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Brynmor-Jones,  David.     See  below,  under  Rhys,  John. 

Carriere,  Moriz.  Die  Poesie.  Leipzig,  1884.  (Contaius 
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326  THE   ELIZABETHAN   LYRIC 

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Flamini,  Francesco.    Compendia  di  Storia  della  Letteratura 

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Gaspary,  Adolf.      Geschichte  der  Italienischen  Literatur. 

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Brydges,  in  Archaica,  ii.     London,  1814. 
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1899. 

Lee,  Sidney.  A  Life  of  William  Shakespeare.  London, 
1898. 

Marot,  Clement.  (Euvres  Completes.  4  vols.  Edites  par 
Pierre  Jannet.    Paris,  1873.    (Imitated  by  Spenser.) 

Matthews,  Brancler.  Parts  of  Speech.  New  York, 
1901. 

Moschus.     See  below,  Theocritus,  Bion,  and  Moschus. 

Mott,  Louis  F.  The  System  of  Courtly  Love.  Boston, 
1896.  (Discusses  the  Old  French  poetry  of  chivalry, 
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Naylor,  Edward  W.  Shakespeare  in  Music,  with  illustra- 
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Owen,  D(aniel  E.  Relations  of  the  Elizabethan  Sonnet 
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Palgrave,  F.  T.  Essay  on  Spenser's  Minor  Poems.  In 
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Parry,  C.  Hubert  H.  Music  of  the  Seventeenth  Century. 
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Penner,  Einil.  Metrische  Untersuchungen  zu  George 
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Poe,  E.  A.  Complete  Works.  Ed.  by  E.  C.  Stedman  and 
G.  E.  Woodberry.  10  vols.  Chicago,  1894.  (The 
essay  on  the  Poetic  Principle  discusses  the  possible 
length  of  a  poem.) 

Poliziano,  A.  A.  Le  Stanze  e  VOrfeo  ed  altre  poesie. 
Milano,  1808.  (The  Bacchanalian  chorus  in 
VOrfeo  is  paralleled  in  Lyly's  drinking-song.) 


328  THE   ELIZABETHAN   LYRIC 

Polti,  Georges.  Les  36  Situations  Dramatiques.  Paris, 
1895.  (Suggestive  of  the  small  number  of  possible 
lyric  themes.) 

Price,  Thomas  Randolph.  The  Technic  of  Shakspere's 
Sonnets.  Privately  reprinted  from  Studies  in  Honor 
of  Basil  Lanneau  Gildersleeve.     Baltimore,  1902. 

Rhys,  John,  and  David  Brynmor-Jones.  The  Welsh  Peo- 
ple. New  York,  1900.  (Helpful  to  an  understand- 
ing of  the  conditions  of  Welsh  poetry.) 

Rimbault,  E.  F.  Bibliotheca  Madrigaliana.  A  biblio- 
graphical account  of  the  musical  and  poetical 
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Ronsard,  Pierre.  (JEuvres  Completes.  Nouvelle  edition 
sur  les  textes  les  plus  anciens,  avec  les  variations 
et  des  notes,  par  Prosper  Blanchemain.  8  vols. 
Paris,  1857-1867.  (Imitated  largely  by  the  Eliza- 
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Saintsbury,  George.  History  of  Elizabethan  Literature. 
London,  1890. 

Sawtelle,  A.  E.  Sources  of  Spenser's  Classical  Mythology. 
Boston,  1896. 

Schelling,  F.  E.  Gascoigne.  In  the  Publications  of  the  Uni- 
versity of  Pennsylvania,  series  in  Philology,  Litera- 
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Poetic  and  verse  criticism  of  the  reign  of  Elizabeth.  Pub- 
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Philology,  Literature  and  Archaeology,  i.  Phila- 
delphia, 1891. 

Schipper,  J.     Englische  Metrik.     Bonn,  1881. 

Scott,  Mary  Augusta.  Elizabethan  Translations  from  the 
Italian.  Modern  Language  Association,  x.-xiv.  Bal- 
timore, 1896-1899. 

Smith,  Homer.  Pastoral  Influence,  in  the  English  Drama. 
Modern  Language  Association  Publications,  xii. 
Baltimore,  1897. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  329 

Swinburne,  A.  C.     Study  of  Ben  Jonson.     London,  1889. 
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See  below. 
Studies  in  Prose  and  Poetry.     London,  1894. 

Symonds,  J.  A.  Ben  Jonson.  In  English  Worthies,  ed. 
by  Andrew  Lang.  London  and  New  York,  1886. 
Essays  Speculative  and  Suggestive.  2  vols.  London, 
1890.  (Discusses  the  relation  of  music  and  words.) 
Sketches  and  Studies  in  Southern  Europe.  2  vols. 
London  and  New  York,  1880.  (Contains  transla- 
tions of  numerous  madrigals  and  rispetti.) 

Tappan,  E.  M.  Essay  on  Nicholas  Breton.  Modern 
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1898. 

Theocritus,  Bion  and  Moschus.  Translated  by  Andrew 
Lang.     London,  1901. 

Wilkins,  Charles.  History  of  the  Literature  of  Wales. 
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Woodberry,  George  Edward.  Greene's  Place  in  Comedy. 
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2  vols.  London,  1896.  (Referred  to  for  Words- 
worth's mention  of  the  oral  recitation  of  lyrical 
poems.) 


INDEX 


Address  to  Christ,  25. 

"Adieu;  farewell  earth's 
bliss,"  265. 

iEneas  Silvius,  91. 

"A!  God  be  with  my  valen- 
tynes,"  249. 

"  Ah,  pale  and  dying  infaut  of 
the  spring,"  148. 

Airs,  in  the  song-books,  207 ; 
their  development  from  mad- 
rigal music,  224  sq. 

D'Alcamo,  Cielo,  62. 

Alexander,  Sir  William,  Au- 
rora, 166. 

Alexandrines,  30,  85,  99,  280, 
293,  et  passim. 

"  All  bewties  farre  perfections 
rest  in  thee,"  295. 

"  Alongst  the  borders  of  a 
pleasant  plaine,"   167. 

American  Indian,  the,  161. 

Ancient  Mariner,  the,  80. 

"  And  as  her  lute  doth  live  or 
die,"  235. 

"  And  would  you  fain  the  rea- 
son know,"  234. 

"  And  would  you  see  my  mis- 
tress' face,"  234. 

Anglo-Saxon  Chronicle,  the, 
22,  42,  et  passim. 

Anglo-Saxou  poetry,  prevail- 
ing mood  of,  20 ;  riddles,  22 ; 
charm-songs,  23;  religious 
lyrics,  25;  combinations  of 
Anglo-Saxon  and  Latin 
verses,   30  n. 

Anonymous  lyrics,  in  TotteVs 
Miscellany ,  80. 


Ariel,  Shakspere's,  260. 
Ariosto,     Lodovico,      Orlando 

Furioso,  90. 
Aristotle,  1  n. 
Arnold,      Matthew,      18,      19; 

Thyrsis,  111,  158. 
"  A  robin,  gentle  robin,"  57. 
"  Art  thou  poor,  yet  hast  thou 

golden  slumbers,"  267. 
"As    it    fell    upon    a    day," 

198. 
Astrophel,    elegies    upon     Sir 

Philip  Sidney,  187  sq. 
Autolycus,  Shakspere's,  229. 
"  Away  with  these  self-loving 

lads,"  227. 

"  Back  and  side  go  bare," 
255. 

"Banbury  ale!  where,  where, 
where  ?  ' '  242. 

Barnes,  Barnabe,  Parthenophil 
and  Parthenophe,  141;  Di- 
vine Century  of  Spiritual 
Sonnets,  158. 

Barnfield,  Richard,  92;  son- 
nets to  Ganymede,  152 ;  sug- 
gests Shakspere,  152;  Enco- 
mium of  Lady  Pecunia,  196; 
lyrics  in  the  Passionate  Pil- 
grim, 198. 

Bateson,  Thomas,  216. 

Battle  of  Brunanburh,  26,  39, 
42,  202. 

Beaumont  and  Fletcher, 
Maid's  Tragedy,   274. 

"Before  the  breake  or  dawn- 
ing of  the  daye,"   104. 


331 


332 


INDEX 


"  Behold  the  blast  which  blows 
the  blossoms  from  the  tree," 
82. 

"Behold,  whiles  she  before  the 
altar  stands,"  190. 

Bellay,  Joachim  du,  178,  179, 
180. 

Belvedere,  95. 

Billy,  Abbe'  Jacques  de,  Son- 
nets Spirituels,  158. 

"  Blood  asketh  blood,  and 
death  must  death  requite," 
254. 

"  Blow,  Northern  Wynd,"  35, 
43. 

"Bow  that  shot  these  shafts  a 
relique  is,  The,"  141. 

Breton,  Nicholas,  92,  241; 
Flourish  upon  Fancie,  121; 
Arbour  of  Amorous  Devices, 
121 ;  I  would  and  I  would 
not,  122. 

Brooke,  Fulke  Greville,  Lord, 
95,  227. 

"  Brown  is  my  love  but  grace- 
ful," 222. 

Browne,  William,  Britannia' s 
Pastorals,  203,  205;  Shep- 
herd's Pipe,  205. 

Brunetiere,  Ferdinand,  4. 

Bryskett,  Lodowick,  188. 

"  But  if  ye  saw  that  which  no 
eyes  can  see,"  192. 

"  But  that  immortal  spirit, 
which  was  dekt,"  188. 

"  But  thou,  my  dear,  sweet- 
sounding  lute,  be  still,"  161. 

"  By  heavens  bye  gift,  in  case 
revived  were,"  276. 

Byrd,  William,  Psalms,  So?i- 
nets  and  Songs,  213;  Songs 
of  Sundry  Natures,  215. 

"Bytwene  Mershe  and 
Averil,"  36. 

Cpedmon's  hymn,  26. 
Campion,  Thomas,  6,  226,  227, 


230,  259,266,  300,301;  Obser- 
vations  in  the  Art  of  English 
Poetry,  201,  231;  Booke  of 
Ay  res  (with  Rossiter),  231 
sq. ;  Two  Books  of  Airs,  236 ; 
Third  and  Fourth  Books  of 
Airs,  239. 

"  Caput  apri  differo,"  66. 

"  Care-charmer  sleep,  son  of 
the  sable  night,"  136. 

Carew,  Thomas,  "  Ask  me  no 
more,"  235. 

Castle  of  Perseverance,  250. 

Catch,  the,  64,  242. 

Catullus,  "  Vivamus  mea  Les- 
bia,"  232. 

Cavalier  lyrics,  91,  237,  290. 

Chanson  d'aubade,  54,  272. 

Chanson  d'aube,  40,  41. 

Chapman,  George,  Hymn  to 
Hi/ men,  202;  Epicedium, 
203. 

Chaucer,  Geoffrey,  24,  32,  39, 
53,  55,  59,  65,  151;  incidental 
songs,  42 ;  Book  of  the  Duch- 
ess, 43;  Legend  of  Good 
Women,  45  n. ;  love-plaints, 
4ti;  ballades  and  rondels, 
46;  Parletnent  of  Foules,5i. 

' '  Cherry-lipt  Adonis  in  his 
snowie  shape,"  152. 

"Chi  salira  per  me,  Madonn' 
in  Cielo,"  212. 

"  Christian  Custance  have  I 
founde,"  253. 

Churchyard,  Thomas,  Chips, 
105. 

"  Ciascun  sequa,  O  Bacco,  te," 
262  n. 

Classical  chorus,  250,  254,  257, 
266. 

Classical  meter,  201 ;  anacre- 
ontics, 292 ;  hexameters,  214. 
283;  Lesser  Asclepiad,  292; 
Phalaecean,  28.".;  Sapphics. 
109,  231,  291. 

Collins,  J.  Churton,  203. 


INDEX 


333 


"Come     away,     come    away, 

death,"  270. 
"Come,  little  babe,  come,  silly 

soul,"  122. 
"  Come  live  with  me  and  be  my 

love,"  199. 
"  Come  shepheards  weedes,  be- 
come your  masters  miude," 

291. 
Complete  Angler,  the,  199  n. 
Constable,     Henry,     Spiritual 

Sonnets,    128;    Diana,    140; 

its  relations  to  Sidney,  140; 

its  suggestions  of  Shakspere, 

141. 
Cooper,  57  n. 
Cornish,  William,  57  n. 
Crashaw,  Richard,  236. 
"  Cupid     and    my     Campaspe 

played,"  259. 
"  Cynthia,   to  thy  power  and 

thee,"  274. 

Daggere,  William,  57  n. 

-Damon  and  Pythias,  84  n.,  256. 

Dance-songs,  219,  220,  227. 

Daniel,  Samuel,  41 ;  Delia,  its 
relations  to  Astrophel  and 
Stella,  134 ;  its  themes  classi- 
fied, 134  sq. ;  the  sonnet-form 
used,  137;  link-sonnets,  138; 
the  musical  image,  139;  sug- 
gestions of  Shakspere,  137, 
138. 

Dante,  Vita  Nuova,  126. 

Darrell,  Mary,  100. 

Davies,  Sir  John,  152 ;  Gulling 
Sonnets,  159;  Astrsea,  165, 241. 

Davison's  Poetical  Rhapsody, 
95 ;  poems  by  Sir  Philip  Sid- 
ney, 95 ;  Watson's  sonnets, 
96;  song  of  vagabondage,  96; 
epitaphs,  96. 

"  Dearest  Cruell,  the  cause  I 
see  dislikes  thee,"  150. 

De-bat,  the,  51,  61,  67,  74,  83, 
93,  117,  279. 


Dekker,  Thomas,  Patient  Gris- 
sell,  267. 

Deloney,  Thomas,  214. 

Deor's  Complaint,  27. 

"  Departure  is  my  chief  paine," 
59. 

Desportes,  Philipe,  120. 

Deuteromelia,  242. 

Dcvereux,  Penelope,  Lady  Rich, 
129,  129  n.,  140. 

Dies  Irae,  54. 

"  Divorce  me  now,  good  death, 
from  love  and  lingering  life," 
103. 

Dobson,  Austin,  301. 

"  Doubt  you  to  whom  my  Muse 
these  notes  intendeth,"  133. 

Dowland,  John,  198;  First  book 
of  songs  or  airs,  224 ;  its  rela- 
tion to  the  new  music,  224  sq. ; 
second  volume,  229. 

"Dowue  Isat,Isatdowne,"290. 

Doionfall  of  Robert,  Earl  of 
Huntingdon,  257. 

"  Do  you  not  know  how  Love 
first  lost  his  seeing?  "  218. 

Drayton,  Michael,  27;  Idea, 
149;  Harmony  of  the  Church, 
181 ;  Shepheards  Garland, 
182,  204;  Poems  Lyric  and 
Pastoral,  202;  ode  on  the 
battle  of  Agincourt,  202. 

Drinking-songs,  32,  70,  223,  247, 
254,  261,  262  n.,  269. 

"  Drink  to  me  only  with  thine 
eyes,"  14. 

Dunbar,  William,  Merle  and 
the  Nightingale,  53 ;  ballade 
on  London,  54;  Lament  for 
the  Makaris,  54 ;  Thistle  and 
the  Rose,  54. 

Dyer,  Sir  Edward,  84,  95,  213. 

"  Each  thing  I  plainly  see, 
whose  vertues  may  availe," 
280. 

Eadward,  elegy  on,  22. 


334 


INDEX 


"Earth  late  choked  with  flow- 
ers, The,"  120. 

"E.  C,  Esq.,"  Emaricdulfe, 
159. 

Echo-songs,  69, 81, 127, 143, 151, 
164,  281. 

Edward  I,  elegy  on,  37. 

Edward  III,  38,  39. 

Edward  IV,  elegy  on,  52. 

Edwards,  Richard,  83  n. ;  256. 

Elegy,  the,  20,  22,  37,  52,  89, 
110,  141,  144,  166,  176,  177, 
183,  187,  203  n.,  205. 

"  England,  be  glad,  pluck  up 
thy  lusty  hart,"  57. 

England's  Helicon,  92,  219, 
281;  love-plaints,  93;  the  pas- 
toral tradition,  93;  dialogue 
lyrics,  93;  the  roundelay,  94. 

England's  Parnassus,  95. 

Envoys,  47,  49,  53,  et  passim. 

Epigram,  the,  65,  218,  221,  230, 
237,  239,  291. 

Essex,  Robert,  Earl  of,  84  n. 

Essex,  Walter,  Earl  of,  84  n. 

Este,  Michael,  241. 

Etheridge,  George,  83  n. 

Euphuism,  85. 

Everyman,  250. 

"Every  night  from  even  to 
morn,"  165. 

"  Fair  and  fair,  and  twice  so 

fair,"  263. 
"  Fair  is  my  love   that  feeds 

among  the  lilies,"  162. 
"Farewell,  Love,  and  all  thy 

lawes  for  ever,"  276. 
"Fates,  alas!  too  cruel,  The," 

217. 
"  Fayre  is  my  love,  when  her 

fayre  golden  heares,"  156. 
Ffardyng,  57  n. 
Ffluyd,  57  n. 
"  Fie,  shepherd's   swain,   why 

sit'st  thou  all  alone  ?  "  204. 
"Fine     knacks     for     ladies.; 


cheap,     choice,     nice,     and 

new,"  229. 
"First   lullabie  my  youthfull 

yeares,"  103. 
Fitz-Geoffrey,  Charles,  106  n. 
Flamini,  Francesco,  30  u. 
Fletcher,     Giles     (the     elder), 

Licia,  145. 
Fletcher,    John,     the     Bloody 

Brother,  271. 
"  Flude  comes  fleetinge  in  full 

faste,  The,"  247. 
"Follow  thy  fair  sun,  unhappy 

shadow,"  234. 
Forcatulus,  Stephanus,  126. 
"For  Love  is  a  celestiall  har- 

monie,"  194. 
"For  of  the  soule   the  bodie 

forme  doth  take,"  194. 
"  Fortune  in  power  imperious," 

266. 
"  Fortune, ou  est  David,  et  Salo- 
mon," 68. 
"  Forward    violet    thus   did    I 

chide,  The,"  172. 
"Foryouth  itwell  beseemeth," 

228. 
French  lyrics,  influence  of,  35; 

French  verses  combined  with 

English,    30,    32,    32  n.,  33, 

119. 

Gammer  Gurton's  Needle,  254. 

Gascoigne,  George,  A  Hundreth 
Sundrie  Flowers,  102;  Di- 
vorce of  a  Lover,  103 ;  Ltdla- 
bie  of  a  Lover,  103;  lyrics  in 
series,  104;  De  Profundi.?, 
104;  influence  of  Chaucer, 
105. 

"  Gather  ye  roses,"  206,  229. 

"  Gentle  nymphs,  be  not  refus- 
ing," 206. 

"Give  beauty  all  her  right," 
238. 

"  Give  me  a  look,  give  me  a 
face,"  273. 


INDEX 


335 


"Golden  slumbers  kiss  your 
eyes,"  267. 

"  Good  and  righteous,  he  away 
doth  take,  The,"  177. 

Googe,  Barnaby,  Eglogs,  Epy- 
taphes,  and  Sonettes,  98 ;  epi- 
taphs, 99;  epistles,  100;  love- 
songs,  100;  on  going  toward 
Spain,  101;  verses  to  Mary 
Darrell,  100. 

Gorboduc,  254. 

Gorgeous  Gallery  of  Gallant 
Inventions,  84,  280  ;  love- 
plaints,  85;  lengthy  titles, 
85;  love-songs,  86;  practical 
songs,  85. 

Gower,  John,  Cinquante  Bal- 
ades,  46,  47,  55. 

Greek  Anthology,  the,  200, 
220. 

Greene,  Robert,  116;  Arbasto, 
116;  Penelopes  Web,  116; 
Perymedes  the  Blacksmith, 
116;  Groatsworth  of  Wit, 
117;  Menaphon,  118;  Never 
too  Late,  119;  Francesco's 
Fortunes,  119. 

Griffin,  Bartholomew,  Fidessa, 
162;  sonnets  on  identical 
rimes,  163,  198. 

Grimald,  Nicholas,  71, 79 ;  love- 
poems,  79;  poem  to  his 
mother,  79 ;  Googe's  epitaph, 
99 ;  his  sonnet  form,  277. 

Grosart,  A.  B.,  106  n.,  145. 

Gwilym,  David  Ap,  40. 

"  Ha  ha  ha  ha!  this  world  doth 
pass,"  242. 

Handful  of  Pleasant  Delights, 
86;  A  Nosegay,  87;  love- 
plaints,  88;  satiric  song,  88; 
moral  songs,  89. 

"  Happy  shepherds,  sit  and 
see,"  282. 

"Hark!  hark!  the  lark,"  272. 

Harvest-songs,  264,  265. 


Hawes,   Stephen,  Pastime  of 

Pleasure,  55. 
"Hayll!  prophette  preved  with- 

outen  pere,"  245. 
Henry  VIII,  56,  57  n.,  67. 
Henryson,  Robert,  Robene  and 

Makyne,  51. 
Herbert,  George,  9,  82,  104. 
"  Here  graved   is  a  good  and 

godly  wight,"  284. 
Herrick,   Robert,    70,   95,   102, 

200,  206,  227,  230,  235,  273. 
"  Highway,  since  you  my  chief 

Parnassus  be,"  13,  131. 
Hill,  Richard,  67. 
"  His  golden   locks  time  hath 

to  silver  turned,"  227,  263. 
Homer,  137,  138. 
Homeric  hymns,  187. 
"Hooky,    hooky,      we     have 

shorn,"  265. 
"Ho!    who  comes   there  with 

bagpiping  and  drumming?" 

220. 
Hunting-songs,  60,  70. 
Husband's  Message,  the,  23. 
Hymn,  the,  example  of  practi- 
cal song,  7. 
Hymn  to  the  Virgin,  25. 

"  I  burne  yet  am  I  cold,  I  am 

a  cold  yet  burne,"  144. 
"I  care  not  for  these  ladies," 

233. 
' '  If    crooked    age    accounteth 

youth  his  spring,"  177. 
"  If  I  could  write  the  beauty 

of  your  eyes,"  169. 
"  If  mine  eyes  can  speake  to 

doe  hear  tie  errand,"  292. 
"If  music   and    sweet  poetry 

agree,"  198. 
"  If  this  be  love,   to  draw    a 

weary  breath,"  137. 
"  If  to  secret  of  my  heart,"  133. 
"  If  women  could  be  fayre  and 

yet  not  fonde,"  84. 


336 


INDEX 


"  I  raun  be  married  a  Sunday," 
2512. 

"In  an  arbor  green,  asleep  as 
Hay,"  253. 

Incidental  songs,  in  the  Eliza- 
bethan Romances,  42,  116 
sq.;  in  the  Anglo-Saxon 
Chronicle,  42 ;  in  Spenser's 
Faerie  Queene,  42  n. ;  in 
Chaucer's  narrative  poems, 
42  sq . ;  in  the  French  fab- 
liaux, 45,  45  n. ;  in  Theoc- 
ritus, 45;  iu  Astrophel  and 
Stella,  132;  in  Lodge's  Phyl- 
lis, 148 ;  in  Drayton's  Shep- 
heards  Garland,  182 ;  in  Bri- 
tannia's Pastorals,  203. 

"In  dew  of  roses  steeping,  "210. 

"  In  flower  of  April  springing," 
212. 

Integer  Vitae,  232,  236. 

"  In  the  merry  month  of  May," 
241. 

"  In  tyme  the  strong  and  stately 
turrets  fall,"  146. 

"  Io,  Bacchus!  To  thy  table," 
262. 

"  Io  moriro  d'  amore,"  215. 

"  I  see  Calliope  speed  her  to 
the  place,"  287. 

"  I  sigh  when  I  sing,"  49. 

"I  sigh,  why  so  ?  for  sorrow 
of  her  smart,"  82. 

"  It  chaunced  after,  that  an 
youthful  squier,"  294. 

"  It  fell  upon  a  holy-eve,"  94, 
110. 

"It  is  the  nightingale  and  not 
the  lark,"  40. 

"It  wasa  lover  and  his  lass," 
264,  270. 

"  I  will  go  die  of  pure  love,"  215. 

"  I  would  I  had  as  much  as 
might  be  had,"  122. 

"Jack  and  Joan  they  think  no 
ill,"  237. 


Jaggard,  William,  197. 

"  Jentyll  butler,  bellamy,"  70. 

"  Jesu,  swete  sone  dere,"  34. 

Jonson,  Ben,  14,  95,  186;  Cyn- 
thia's Bevels,  273;  regular- 
ity of  his  lyrics,  273;  Silent 
Woman,  273. 

Keats,  John,  11,  14. 
Kirbye,  George,  221. 
"Knight  that  was  so  strong, 

A,"  37. 
Kyd,  Thomas,  Cornelia,  266. 

"  Lady,   when    I    behold    the 

roses  sprouting,"  228. 
Latin,  translation  from  the,  29, 

232;  Latin   verses  combined 

with    Anglo-Saxon,    30    n. ; 

Latin  verses  combined  with 

Middle  English,   30,  66,  69; 

Latin  lyrics,  32. 
Laura,  Petrarch's  love,  81,  135. 
"La  verginella  e    simile  alia 

rosa,"  90. 
"  Lay  a  garland  on  my  hearse," 

274. 
"Leave    me,    O    love!    which 

readiest  but  to  dust,"  131. 
"  Let  him  that  will  be  free,"  232. 
"Let  me  not  to  the  marriage 

of  true  minds,"  12. 
"  Lett  no  man  cum  in  to  this 

hall,"  70. 
"  Like  as  the  lute  delights  or 

else  dislikes,"  139. 
"  Like  to  Diana  in  her  summer 

weed,"  289. 
"Like  to  the  clear  in  highest 

sphere,"  120. 
Linche,  Richard,  Diella,  160. 
Link-verse,    in  Welsh   poetry, 

41;  in  Minot's  songs,  41;    in 

Daniel's  sonnets,  41,  138. 
Lodge,  Thomas,  90,  92,  116;  A 

Margarite  of  America,  120; 

Scylla's  Metamorphosis,  120 ; 


INDEX 


337 


Rosalind,  120;  word-paint- 
ing, 120  n.,  281;  Phyllis,  its 
pastoral  mood,  147  ;  interpo- 
lated lyrics,  148. 

"  Lo,  here  we  come  a-sowing, 
a-sowing,"  204. 

Longfellow,  Henry  W.,  30  n. 

"Look,  Delia,  how  we  esteem 
the  half-blown  rose,"  136. 

"Lord,  hit  maketh  myn  herte 
light,"  44. 

"  Lord  Jehovah  is  a  man  of 
war,  The,"  182. 

"  Love  guards  the  roses  of  thy 
lips,"  148,  290. 

"  Love  in  my  bosom  like  a 
bee,"  120. 

Lovelace,  Richard,  9,  12. 

Love-letter,  the,  23,  46. 

"  Love's  folk  in  green  array- 
ing," 221. 

"  Love  was  layd  downe,  all 
wearie  fast  asleepe,"  146. 

"  Loving  in  truth,  and  fain  in 
verse  my  love  to  show,"  293. 

Lusty  Juventus,  253. 

'•  Lute  itself  is  sweetest  when 
she  plays.  The,"  163. 

Lute,  the,  its  influence  upon 
the  song-books,  225. 

Lydgate,  John,  rondel,  48; 
London  Lickpenny,  49,  55. 

Lyly,  John,  258;  Alexander 
and  Campaspe,  258;  En- 
dymion,  260;  Midas,  261; 
Mother  Bombie,  261 ;  his 
plays  written  for  choristers, 
248,  258. 

Lyric,  Greek  use  of  the  term, 
1;  Ritson's  definition,  2  n. ; 
modern  uses  of  the  term,  2; 
oral  recitation  of,  3;  the  sub- 
jective, 7;  Carriere's  defini- 
tion, 8  n. ;  Sherer's  defini- 
tion, 8  n. ;  lyric  form.  9;  as 
suggested  by  Palgrave,  9; 
emotional    stimulus    of    the 


lyric,  10;  its  three  phases, 
17,  115;  the  idyllic  lyric,  15, 
16 ;  in  the  drama,  144  sq. 

Madrigal,  the,  141,  144,  283,  et 
passim. 

"Maids  are  simple,  some  men 
say,"  239. 

Male,  the  sheep-stealer,  246. 

"Man  of  life  upright,  The," 
232,  23(5. 

Map,  Walter,  32. 

Marlowe,  Christopher,  "Come 
live  with  me,"  199. 

Marot,  Clement,  eclogue  on  the 
death  of  Queen  Loys,  110, 
111,  112  n.,  113,  113m.,  114, 
115,  294. 

Marvell,  Andrew,  79,  80,  200. 

Mary,  Countess  of  Pembroke, 
134,  187. 

Matthews,  Brander,  4  n. 

"Melanipus,  when  will  love  be 
void  of  fears?  "  94. 

Melismata,  242. 

Metaphysical  or  fantastic 
school,  126,  184. 

Meter :  alexandrines,  30,  85,  99, 
183,  279,  2S0,  293;  anapestic 
verse,  279,  281,  287;  blank 
verse,  118;  "commonmeter," 
284  ;  classical  meters,  anacre- 
ontics. 292 ;  hexameters,  214, 
283;  Lesser  Asclepiad,  292; 
Phalaeceau,  283;  Sapphics, 
109,  231,  291;  "  pointer's 
measure,"  85,  166,277,  284; 
septenaries,  30,  85,  99,  186; 
tetrapody,  iambic,  183;  tro- 
chaic, 281;  trochaic  catalec- 
tic,  132. 

Middle  English  lyric,  26;  re- 
ligious, 28,  49;  slumber- 
songs,  34 ;  love-songs,  35,  36. 

"  Mihi  esi  propositum,"  32. 

Milton,  John,  ode  on  the  na- 
tivity, 82;  Lijcidas,  111,  188  n. 


INDEX 


"Mine  eyes  shall  not  be  my 
commanders,"  223. 

Minot,  Lawrence,  26,  38-41, 
138,  202. 

Miscellanies,  manuscript,  56 
sq.;  patriotic  songs,  57,  63; 
moral  and  religious,  58,  59, 
64,  66,  68;  love-plaints,  59, 
(14;  hunting-songs,  60,  66, 
70;  pastourelle,  61;  Christ- 
mas carols,  66,  69;  spring- 
songs,  60,  65,  67;  drinking- 
songs,  32;  printed  miscella- 
nies, Tottel's,  71  sq. ;  Para- 
dise of  Dainty  Devices,  81 
sq.;  Gorgeous  Gallery  of 
Gallant  Inventions,  84  sq. ; 
the  Phoenix  Nest,  89  sq.; 
England's  Helicon,  92  sq. ; 
Davison's  Poetical  Rhap- 
sody, 95  sq.;  small  number 
of  themes  in  the  miscella- 
nies, 97,  97  n. 

Misfortunes  of  Arthur,  257. 

"Modest  maid,  decked  with  a 
blush  of  honor,  A,"  135. 

Moralities,  249. 

Morality  of  Wisdom,  249. 

Morley,  Thomas,  Canzonets, 
or  Little  Short  Songs,  217 ; 
Madrigals  to  Four  Voices, 
218;  Ballets  to  Five  Voices, 
220;  Canzonets  to  Two 
Voices,  221 ;  Canzonets,  or 
Little  Short  Acts,  221;  Tri- 
umphs of  Oriana,  240. 

Morris  Dance,  the,  219,  223. 

Moschus,  110,  111,  112,  113. 

"Most  glorious  Lord  of  lyfe! 
that,  on  this  day,"  155. 

"  Mosti  ryden  by  Rybbesdale," 
37. 

Mott,  L.  F.,  86  n. 

"  Mounting  venture  for  a  high 
delight,  The,"  138. 

M.  Shelley  slayne  at  Mv  isel- 
broughe,  Googe's  epitaph,  99. 


"Muses  joye  and  well  they 
may  to  see,  The,"  99. 

Music,  its  relations  to  words, 
5,  5  n.,  7,  63,  68,  75,  83,  87, 
106,  133,  139,  147,  163,  198, 
207  sq.,  213,  224  sq.,  247,  298, 
299,  300,  301,  303;  images 
taken  from  music,  138,  147, 
161,  163,  171,  234 ;  the  train- 
ing of  actors  in  music,  248 ; 
facsimiles  of  music,  57  n. ; 
reproduction  of  the  opening 
measures  of  a  madrigal,  208. 

"Music  to  hear,  why  hearest 
thou  music  sadly?"  171. 

"  My  bonnie  Lass,  thiue  eye," 
90,  220. 

"  My  Daphne's  hair  is  twisted 
gold,"  261. 

"  My  darling  dere,  my  daysy 
floure,"  52. 

"My  flocks  feed  not,"  223. 

' '  My  ghostly  father !  I  me 
confess,"  48. 

"  My  love,  what  mislyking  in 
mee  do  you  finde,"  281. 

"  My  lute  awake  performe  the 
last,"  279. 

' '  My  mind  to  me  a  kingdom 
is,"  84,  213. 

' '  My  muse  what  ayles  this 
ardour,"  292. 

"  My  Phyllis  hath  the  morning 
sun,"  148. 

Mysteries,  the,  246. 

"  My  true  love  hath  my  heart," 
123. 

Nashe,  Thomas,  Summer's  Last 

Will  and  Testament,  264. 
"Needes  must  he  all  eternitie 

survive,"  180. 
"  Nel  piu  fiorit'  Aprile,"  211. 
"  New  Yeare,  forth  looking  out 

of  Janus  gate."  154. 
"  Nightingale,  as  soon  as  April 

bringeth,  The,"  13. 


INDEX 


339 


"Not  light-of-love,  lady,"  280. 
"Now      Christmas      draweth 

near,"   121. 
"Now  cooled  is  Dame  Venus' 

brand,"  54. 
"Now  I  find,  thy  looks  were 

feigned,"  148,  281. 
' '  Now  is  the  month  of  Maying, ' ' 

220. 
"Now,   O   now  I  needs  must 

part,"  227. 
Nunc  dimiltis,  the,  244. 
Nut-broion  Maid,  the,  53. 

"  O  Angell  dere  wher  ever  I 

goo,"  68. 
Occleve,    Thomas,    Balade    to 

my  gracious  Lord  of  York, 

49;  Chaneson  to  Somer,  49. 
"  O     Cupid,      monarch     over 

kings,"  262. 
"  O  divine  love,  which  so  aloft 

canst  raise,"  182. 
"  O  fairest  faire,  to  thee  I  make 

my  plaint,"  164. 
"  Of  a  rose,  a  lovely  rose,"  70. 
"  Of  Tantalus'  plight,"  285. 
"  Oft,    when    my    spirit    doth 

spred    her    bolder    winges," 

158. 
' '  Oh       spightf  ull       wayward 

wretched  love,"  183. 
Oliphant,  Thomas,  211  n.,  221. 
"O  mistress  mine,  where  are 

you  roaming,"  270. 
"On  a  day,  alack  the  day!" 

268. 
"One  day  I  wrote  her  name 

upon  the  strand,"  294. 
"  On  happy  Crispin  day,"  202. 
Ophelia,  her  posy  in  Hamlet,  87. 
Oreison  of  Ure  Lefdi,  29. 
Orlando  Furioso,  90. 
d'Orleans,     Charles,     English 

rondels  of,  48. 
"O  sisters  too   how  may  we 

do,"  248. 


' '  O  sweet  woods  the  delight  of 

solitarinesse,"  292. 
"  O  thou  faire  silver  Thames," 

183. 
"  Out  herrowe  I  rore,"  249. 
Ovid,  his  epistle  from  Penelope 

to  Ulysses,  85. 
' '  O  whither  shall  I  turne  mee  ?  " 

282. 
"  O  wild  West  Wind,"  11, 14. 
Oxford,  Edward  de  Vere,  Earl 

of,  84. 

Painting,  50,  120, 146,  298 ;  kin- 
ship of  Lodge's  poetry  to, 
120,  120  n. 

Palamon  and  Arcite,  84  n. 

Palestrina,  210. 

Palgrave,  Francis  T.,  9,  120  n. 

Pammelia,  242. 

Parabosco,  Girolamo,  126. 

Paradise  of  Dainty  Devices, 
81,  279;  moral  and  gnomic 
themes,  81 ;  echo-song,  81 ; 
religious  lyric,  82;  love- 
plaints,  82;  May-song,  83; 
Sir  Edward  Dyer,  84;  Ed- 
ward de  Vere,  Earl  of  Ox- 
ford, 84. 

Passionate  Pilgrim,  the,  197. 

Pastoral,  the,  59,  69,  92,  93,  108, 
115,  et  passim. 

Pastourelle,  the,  61,  67,  93,  117, 
270;  French  example  trans- 
lated, 61  n. 

Pearl,  the,  55. 

Pedler's  song,  33,  229,  257. 

Peele,  George,  92,  94 ;  Arraign- 
ment of  Paris,  263;  Poly- 
hymnia, 263;  Old  Wives' 
Tale,  264. 

Percy,  William,  Cailia,  150; 
indebtedness  to  Barnes,  150. 

Perigot  and  Cuddies  Rounde- 
lay, 94. 

Petrarch,  71,  74,  75,  126,  135, 
180,  275. 


340 


INDEX 


Pliaer.  Thomas,  epitaph  on,  99. 

•'  Phoebe  sat,  sweet  she  sat," 
289. 

"Phoebus,  farewell,  a  sweeter 
saint  I  serve,"  290. 

Phoenix,  the,  30  n. 

Phanix  Nest,  the,  89,  281;  ele- 
gies on  Sidney,  89;  Raleigh's 
lyrics,  89,  90 ;  praise  of  chas- 
tity, 90;  art-lyrics,  90; 
Thomas  Lodge,  90;  love- 
songs,  91;  sonnets,  92. 

"Pinch  him,  pinch  him,  black 
and  blue,"  261. 

Pindar,  26,  247. 

"  Pipe  mery  Annot,"  251. 

Plato,  epigram  ascribed  to, 
102;  his  influence  on  Delia, 
135;  upon  Spenser,  135,  156 
sq.,  193;  upon  Drayton,  182; 
in  Astrophel,  188. 

Poe,  E.  A.,  17  n. 

Poliziano  (Ambrogini  Angelo), 
Orfeo,  262  n. 

Presentation  of  Christ,  244. 

Prickett,  Robert,  106  n. 

"  Proud  Maisie  is  in  the  Wood," 
9. 

Provence,  20;  Provencal  and 
Italian  verses  combined, 
30  n. ;  the  Provencal  lyric,  2, 
20,  299;  disguise  of  lady's 
name  in  Provencal  lyric,  86, 
86  7i. 

' '  Provide  therefore  (ye  Princes) 
whilst  ye  live,"  178. 

Pygott,  57  n. 

"  Queene  and  huntress,  chaste 
and  fair,"  273. 

Raleigh,  Sir  Walter,  elegy  on 
Sidney,  89,  189;  other  lyrics, 
90,90  7i. 

Ralph  Roister  Bolster,  251. 

Reduplicatio,  Watson's  rhetori- 
cal figure,  127. 


Reformation,     the,     181,    197, 

207,  209. 
Refrains,  24,  27,  30,  35,  47,  49, 
50,  53,  54,  73,  83, 115, 133,  176, 
220,  228,  252,  280. 

"  Rejoice,  ye  realms  of  England 
and  of  France,"  49. 

Renascence,  the,  46,  117,  155, 
165,  181,  et passim. 

Rhythms,  short,  for  supernatu- 
ral characters  in  the  drama, 
249,  200. 

Richard  I,  two  sirventes  by,  32. 

Rime,  83,  212,  257,  276,  288; 
feminine,  134,  151,  215;  iden- 
tical, 163,  167  ;  inverted,  282 ; 
masculine,  134. 

Rispetto,  the,  211,  212,  277. 

Rogers,  Thomas,  sonnets  on  the 
death  of  LadyFrances,  Count- 
ess of  Hertford,  165. 

Romance,  the,  219,  241,  268. 

Ronsard,  Pierre,  126. 

"  Rose-cheeked  Laura,  come," 
201. 

Rossiter,  Philip,  226,  231. 

Roundelay,  94,  109. 

Royden,  Matthew,  189. 

Raines  of  Rome,  178,  179. 

Ruines  of  Time,  177. 

Rysbye,  57  n. 

St.  Godric's  hymn,  30  n. 

"  Salve  with  abeyance,"  69. 

Satiric  song,  35. 

Schiller,  97  n. 

Scott,  Sir  Walter,  9. 

Seafarer,  the,  21. 

"  See  how  sad  thy  Venus  lies," 

119. 
"  See,    see,    mine    own    sweet 

jewell,"  218. 
Seneca,  250. 
Seraphini,  126. 
Shakspere,     William,     Romeo 

and  Juliet,  40;  As  You  Like 

It,  264,  270;  Two  Gentlemen 


INDEX 


341 


of  Verona,  268;  Love's  La- 
bour's Lost,  165, 197,  268,  26!) ; 
Much  Ado,  269;  Twelfth 
Night,  270;  Shakspere's  two 
types  of  song,  269;  Measure 
for  Measure,  271 ;  Merchant 
of  Venice,  271;  Cymbellne, 
272;  Macbeth,  272;  Sonnets, 
134, 137, 138, 139, 141,  143, 152, 
153,  157;  the  doubtful  auto- 
biographical elemeut,  167; 
their  themes  classified,  168 
sq.;  the  "dark  lady,"  170, 
222;  treatment  of  musical 
image,  140,  171 ;  realism  of 
images,  173 ;  mastery  of  lyric 
form,  174. 

"  Shall  I  come  if  I  swim  ?  "  232. 

"  Shall  I  no  way  win  you,"  83, 
279. 

"  Shall  we  go  dance  the  hay? 
the  hay?  "282. 

' '  She  fell  away  in  her  first  ages 
spring,"  177. 

Shelley,  Percy  Bysshe,  5  n., 
11,  14;  Adonais,  111. 

Sidney,  Sir  Philip,  13,  75,  84, 
89,  92;  the  Arcadia,  93,  116, 
122,  219;  epithalamium,  123; 
Ajttrophel  and  Stella,  123, 128 ; 
Penelope  Devereux,  129,  129 
n. ;  the  sonnet  themes  classi- 
fied, 130  sq. ;  Lord  Rich,  131 ; 
/  the  songs,  132;  personal 
quality  of  the  sequence,  134. 

"  Sigh  no  more,  ladies,  sigh  no 
more,"  12,  91,  220. 

"  Signes  of  shame  that  stayne 
my  blushing  face,  The," 
184. 

' '  Singing  alone  sat  my  sweet 
Amaryllis,"  221. 

"  Sith  my  life  from  life  is 
parted,"  185. 

Skelton,  John,  Wofully  Araid, 
50 ;  Philipe  Sparrow,  52 ;  Gar- 
land of  Laurell,  52,  53. 


Smith,  William,  Chloris,  its 
pastoral  tone,  163. 

"  So  be  my  labours  endlesse  in 
their  turnes,"  142. 

"Some  say  Love,"  118,  288. 

Song-books,  79,  86,  87,  94,  207 
sq.;  300. 

Song  of  the  Rose,  the,  69. 

Soiig  of  Widsith,  27,  136. 

"  Sonne  hath  twice  brought 
forth  his  tender  greene,  The, " 
278. 

Sonnet-cycles,  43,  77,  79,  129 
sq.;  302. 

"So  passeth,  in  the  passing  of 
a  day,"  206. 

Sophocles,  126. 

"So  saith  my  fair  and  beauti- 
ful Lycoris,"  223. 

Southwell,  Robert,  St.  Peter's 
Complaint,  184;  intellectual 
rather  than  emotional  quali- 
ties, 185 ;  the  Burning  Babe, 
186. 

Spenser,  Edmund,  Epithala- 
mium, 16,  189;  its  stanza 
like  the  sonnet  in  a  se- 
quence, 189,  302 ;  its  pictures, 
190;  its  spontaneity,  191 ;  its 
resemblance  to  the  canzone, 
192;  Astrophel,  89,  92,  96; 
the  Shepheards  Calender, 
106;  indebtedness  to  Virgil, 
107 ;  eclogue  for  January, 
108 ;  praise  of  the  Queen,  109 ; 
roundelay,  109 ;  sestina,  110, 
285;  elegy,  110;  parallel, 
from  Moschus  and  Marot,  110 
sq.  ;  three  stages  of  grief, 
111;  the  Faerie  Qiteen,  136; 
Amoretti,  153 ;  autobiograph- 
ical interest,  157;  Daphnaida, 
176 ;  Complaints,  and  Ruines 
of  Time,  177 ;  Fowre  Hymnes, 
193;  Prothalamium,  193, 
195. 

"Spring,  the  sweet  spring,  is 


342 


INDEX 


the  year's  pleasant  king," 
264.  ' 

"  Stand  well,  rnoder,  under 
rood,"  51. 

Stanza-forms,  canzone,  142, 
295;  disaine,  Sidney's,  291; 
Greene's  stanzas,  288  sq. ;  he- 
roic couplet,  277;  madrigal, 
141, 144, 283;  Lodge's  stanzas, 
289  sq.;  quatrains,  277,  284, 
290;  rime  royal,  47,  171, 
177,  284,  294;  rispetto,  211, 
212, 277  ;  sestina,  142, 144, 166, 
285;  sonnet,  Petrarch's  forms, 
128,  276;  Surrey's  English 
form,  277 ;  Grimald's  form  of 
seven  rimes,  276;  Sidney's 
expanded  form,  290;  Wat- 
son's expanded  form,  292; 
Barnes's,  294 ;  Shakspere's, 
172;  Spenser's  form,  153, 
294;  ottava  rima,  277;  terza 
rima,  278,  294. 

' '  Stately  state  that  wise  men 
count  their  good,  The,"  116. 

"  Stella,  since  now,  by  honour's 
cruel  might,"  131. 

Stevenson,  William,  254  n. 

Still,  John,  254. 

"  Stoics  thinke  (and  they  come 
neare  the  truth),  The,"  152. 

Street-ballads,  39,  52,  87,  89. 

"Strike  up,  my  lute,  and  ease 
my  heavie  cares,"  150. 

"Sumer  isicumenin,"  8,35,  43. 

Surrey,  Henry  Howard,  Earl  of, 
53,  71,  75;  Geraldine  myth, 
76 ;  uses  English  sonnet  form, 
76,  276;  love-plaint,  77;  art 
lyric,  78;  literary  tributes, 
78 ;  terza  rima,  278. 

' '  Sweet  Adon,  darest  not  glance 
thine  eye?"  119. 

"  Sweet,  afford  me,  then,  your 
sight,"  238. 

"  Syghes  are  my  foode,"  278. 

Symonds,  J.  A.,  212  /i. 


"  Syron  Venus  nourist  in  hir 
lap,"  117. 

"  Take,  O  take,  those  lips 
away,"  271. 

Tarleton's  News  out  of  Pur- 
gatory, 290. 

Tasso,  Torquato,  Gerusalemme 
Liberata,  136;  Aminta,  163, 
206. 

Teares  of  the  Muses,  178. 

"  Tell  me  not,  sweet,  I  am  un- 
kind," 9,  12. 

"Tell  me  where  is  fancy  bred," 
271. 

Tennyson,  Alfred,  the  Prin- 
cess, 4;  "Far  —  far  —  away," 
6:  "Tears,  idle  tears,"  17; 
Charge  of  the  Light  Brigade, 
100,  202. 

Thackeray,  W.  M.,  the  New- 
comes,  263. 

"That  time  of  year  thou  mayst 
in  me  behold,"  174. 

Theocritus,  62,  93, 126, 145, 199, 
204,  222. 

' '  There  is  a  garden  in  her  face,' ' 
240. 

"There  is  none,  Oh,  none  but 
you,"  237. 

"There  were  three  ravens," 
242. 

"  Ther  were  iii  wylly,"  35. 

' '  They  flee  from  me  that  some- 
time did  me  seke,"  278. 

"  They  look  into  the  beauty  of 
thy  mind,"  171. 

"  Thine  eyes  so  bright,"  284. 

"  Thing  very  fitte,  A,"  252. 

"  This  holy  season,  fit  to  fast 
and  pray,"  155. 

"  Those  eies  which  set  my  fan- 
cie  on  a  fire,"  92. 

"Thou  art  but  young,  thou 
sayest,"  229. 

"  Thou  still  unravished  bride 
of  quietness,"  11,  14. 


INDEX 


343 


"  Thow  Bacchus  plant,  which 
alwaies  greene  dost  springe," 
200. 

"  Three  times  a  day  my  prayer 
is,"  230. 

"Through  knowledge  we  he- 
hold  the  world's  creation," 
179. 

"Tims  all  their  praises  are  but 
prophecies,"  170. 

"  Thyne  eyes  (those  semynaries 
of  my  grief e),"  161. 

Thynne,  Francis,  Emblems  and 
Epigrammes,  200. 

"Time  nor  place  did  I  want, 
what  held  me  tongtide?" 
283. 

Titles,  narrative,  in  the  miscel- 
lanies, 85,  141. 

"  To  all  those  happy  hlessings, 
which  ye  have,"  157. 

"  To  love  my  God  I  do  knightes 
service  owe,"  160. 

"To  me,  fair  friend,  you  never 
can  he  old,"  174. 

Tottel's  Miscellany,  56,  71,  218, 
275;  Wyatt,  71;  Surrey,  75; 
Grimald,  79;  anonymous,  80. 

Tourneur,  Cyril,  Plays  and 
Poems,  203  n. 

"  Trostyly,  Lord,  redy !  "  250. 

Turberville,  George,  Epitaphs, 
Epigrams,  Songs  and  Son- 
ets, 101 ;  love-songs,  101 ; 
treatment  of  physical  de- 
formity, 102;  classical  sug- 
gestion, 102. 

"  Turn  I  my  looks  unto  the 
skies,"  120. 

"  Two  loves  I  have  of  comfort 
and  despair,"  198. 

"  Tyme  weares  all  his  lockes 
before,"  186. 

Vaughan,  Henry,  184,236. 
Vaux,  Thomas,  Lord,  71. 
"Venus  by  Adonis'  side,"  205. 


"View  me,  Lord,  a  work  of 

thine,"  237. 
Villon,  Francois,  Ballade    of 

Dead  Ladies,  68. 
Virgil,  93. 

Visions  of  Bellay,  178, 180. 
Visions  of  Petrarch,  178,  180. 
Visions  of  the  World's  Vanitie, 

170,  180. 

Wales,  lyric  poetry  in,  40. 

Walsingham,  Sir  Francis,  elegy 
on,  217. 

Wanderer,  the,  21,  184. 

Watson,  Thomas,  91 ;  Hekatom- 
pathia,  96,  125 ;  indebtedness 
to  other  poets,  126 ;  conceits 
and  devices,  127 ;  Teares  of 
Fancie,  144;  Italian  Madri- 
gals Englished,  216. 

Webbe,  William,  Discourse  of 
English  Poetry,  109. 

Weelkes,  Thomas,  7,  223;  Bal- 
lets and  Madrigals,  227; 
Ayres  or  Phantastick  S})ir- 
ites,  241. 

"Weep  not,  my  wanton,  smile 
upon  my  knee,"  118,  122. 

"  What  can  I  now  suspect,  or 
what  can  I  fear  any  longer  ?  " 
283. 

"  What  cruel  hand  of  cursed 
foe  unknown,"  187. 

"What  lack  ye?  what  lack 
ye?"  257. 

"  What  one  art  thou,  thus  in 
torn  weed  yclad,"  80. 

"What  pleasures  have  great 
princes,"  213. 

' '  What's  that,  compact  of  earth, 
infused  with  air,"  204. 

"When  all  around  the  wind 
doth  blow,"  269. 

"Whenas  my  lute  is  tuned  to 
her  voyce,"  147. 

"When  from  the  tower  whence 
I  derive  love's  leaven,"  151. 


344 


INDEX 


"  When   I  do  count  the  clock 

that  tells  the  time,"  1(>1). 
"When  in  disgrace  with  for- 
tune and  men's  eyes,"  173. 
"When    most    I    wink,    then 

do    mine    eyes    best    see," 

172. 
"  When  summer  took  in  hand," 

277. 
"  Whereat  ere  while  I  wept,  I 

laugh,"  11(5. 
"  Who    is    it    that    this    dark 

night,"  268. 
"Who  is  Silvia,  what  is  she," 

267. 
"  Who  is  the  same,  which  at 

my  window  peepes,"  191. 
"  Who  made  thee,  Hob,  forsake 

the  plough,"  216. 
"  Whoso  that  wyll  for  grace 

sew,"  58. 
"  Who  will  ascend  to  Heaven, 

and  there  obtain  me,"  212. 
"  Who  will  believe  my  verse  in 

time  to  come?  "  12,  141. 
"  Why  didst  thou  promise  such 

a  beauteous  day  ?  "  174. 
"  Why  should  not  youth  fulfill 

his  own  mind,"  253. 
Widsith,  Song  of,  27,  136. 
Wife's  Complaint,  the,  23. 
Wilbye,  John,  Madrigals,  228. 
"Wisest    way,    thy    bote,    in 


wave  or  winde  to  guie, 
The,"  279. 

Witch-songs,  260,  272. 

"  With  fools  and  children  good 
discretion  bears,"  149. 

"  With  Margerain  ientyll,"  53. 

"Womanhood,  wanton  ye 
want,"  52. 

Worde.  Wynkyn  de,  66. 

Wyatt,  Sir  Thomas,  53,  57,  71; 
love-songs,  71 ;  subjective 
lyric,  72;  art-songs,  73;  pa- 
triotic lyric,  74;  twofold  in- 
fluence on  the  lyric,  74; 
rondels,  98 ;  uses  Petrarchan 
sonnet,  275 ;  small  number 
of  rimes,  276;  uses  the  ris- 
petto,  277;  uses  the  rime- 
royal,  278. 

"Ye  poets  have  done  well  in 

times  long  past,"  292. 
"Ye  wastefull  Woodes!  beare 

witnesse  of  my  woe,"  286. 
"You,  you  alone  can  make  my 

muse  to  speake,"  197. 
Younge,      Nicholas,      Musica 

Transalpine,  209,  214,  222. 
"Your  flowers  for  their  hue," 

284. 

Zepheria,  151;  parodied  by  Sir 
John  Davies,  152. 


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